The Moon's Shadow
by Aduro Tri
Summary: Soon after her return to Canterlot, Princess Luna finds herself not only plagued by her rough past, but by a rough adjustment to modern life. What will it be like for her? Especially with a mysterious figure looming over her with unknown intentions. Luna/OC. (Warning, may have dark themes in future) Slight AU.
1. The Mystery

Chapter 1

The press was by far the worst part upon her return, as she landed with her elder sister before the gates of Canterlot Castle. Many ponies began to swarm around them as they took notice of her cobalt blue coat, and sky blue mane. From the get-go, they recognized her as she had appeared in a newspaper not more than two days ago in Ponyville. Voices rambled around her as Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns; all of which being reporters, were trying desperately to get to her, to no avail however, as the guards kept them at a safe distance.

"Princess Luna!" a dark brown unicorn stallion called out. "Now that you're back, what is it you intend on doing?" his voice stood out from the rest of the crowd, as it seemed he wanted her attention the most, however, she simply ducked behind her older sister, skittish because of all of the ponies around her. Nearby another, this time a pegasus flew over, using her wings to get up closer to the princess.

"What was it like, being imprisoned on the moon?" she asked, this time Luna wanted to answer the question, raising a hoof to answer before being cut off once again by an Earth Pony.

"Why were you sent to the moon in the first place?" his voice echoed out, his head shifting out from between the guards before being forced back. What happened next caught the Lunar Princess off guard, a very bright flash from the left, this almost made her leap from her skin, before she realized it was one of the 'cameras' she had seen from Ponyville, it was here she let out a soft sigh. Finally she turned up to her sister, before looking back at the various ponies trying to get past the guards to get at least one question answered.

"Do not worry, you won't have to answer the reporters until you are ready." her sister reassured, this allowed her to relax a bit as the gates drew closer. The guards gathered around, and the gates slowly closed after they had passed through. Once inside the grounds, Luna released a held breath, her mane just showing the level of stress she had already endured from the reporters alone. Strands of hair stuck out at various places, split ends were very visible in her short mane, however, this was also to be expected, as she hadn't had any royal pampering for a millennia.

"Welcome home Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!" a teal colored earth pony rushed up, bowing before the white alicorn with flowing rainbow-colored mane. Soon followed by her bowing to Princess Luna, but after a moment her attention shifted to her outward appearance, slowly turning to Celestia as if asking for permission, who then gazed at her sister, before she herself turned to the servant.

"Yes?" she finally spoke up, her voice a bit squeaky and rather quiet at the present time, due to a distinct lack of confidence. n

"Well...I was wondering if...I could take you to get a full on beauty treatment, as it looks like you really do need one." the servant said, Luna went silent after she had been asked this, she understood what the servant had asked, and she knew very well that she needed a beauty treatment something fierce, however she also wanted to get a little bit of rest in her own bed at the same time.

"Tomorrow morning, we will be there to receive said treatment." she finally said after nearly a minute of silence.

"Actually...sister...it'll have to be tomorrow afternoon." Celestia interrupted, as she sat beside Luna. "You have a visit to the doctor in the morning." This caught Luna's attention instantly, her head turning towards her sister. The look in her eyes asked the question 'why?'. She wasn't even getting a chance to relax anymore, she had only been back for about three days, and already she was being put into situations she really didn't even want to be a part of, she just simply wanted to relax for a couple days.

"On second thought, we shall go for it right now." In seconds, Luna felt her body being surrounded by magic, before she was lifted just slightly into the air by a nearby unicorn, this unicorn was one of the other servants that had followed the earth pony out, which was strange as she hadn't seen her a few minutes ago. She didn't pay much mind to this however, as her nerves began to take hold as she was dragged off to the wash room.

Since Princess Luna's previous visit to the washroom, which had been over a thousand years ago, it had gone through some serious changes. What frightened her the most however, was what the staff said after just one second of being in the room.

"HER MANE IS TERRIBLE!" One unicorn shouted.

"HER HOOVES ARE DREADFUL!" an earth pony shouted.

"AND HER TAIL!" A pegasus roared, in seconds she was swarmed over, being dragged in so many different directions that it left her dizzy.

"Get me the Mane 'n' Tail!" said the unicorn, as they threw her into the bath, the water was warm and soothing, although with so many ponies swarming over her she didn't exactly get the chance to really enjoy it very much. Not long after they had thrown her in, they began to scrub down her coat, this removed any unsightly burrs she had gained from the past, as well as it even brought it to a new shine. Next came her flank, once they had cleaned up her coat entirely, they moved on to her mane, which was already being cleaned with the shampoo. This was relatively new to her, especially the feel of the shampoo and the contact with her tail. At first it felt uncomfortable, but after a second, she let out a sigh, closing her eyes as the warm water was poured over her, rinsing the shampoo from her mane. The shampoo itself seemed to have a bit of a cooling effect after it had been washed out, giving her head a bit of a cool tingling sensation, and while she did find that it felt a bit funny, she seemed to enjoy it, not saying a single words as she felt everything from the past being washed away with the water.

The bathtub was soon drained, and the result showed significantly, as they proceeded to file her hooves. This in it of itself felt wonderful as her hooves had overgrown a tiny bit, making it uncomfortable for her to walk. This vanished very quickly though as her hooves had been returned to their former glory, they even trimmed the feathers on her wings as well as trimmed off the split ends from her mane and tail. Once they finished, they slowly placed the crown on her head, where she finally opened her eyes.

"You look beautiful, Princess." one of them said.

"Simply amazing!"

"But...why isn't your mane flowing like Princess Celestia's?"

This question struck Luna relatively hard as she stood in the washroom surrounded by her loyal subjects, even she didn't have that answer yet, but she at least wanted to provide them with a good answer, however, she was simply cut short as someone else had entered the room, what startled her the most by far of this earth pony was not the fact he was an older gentlecolt, but, what was on his face. Luna's eyes went wide when she saw it, the sheer size of it was terrifying it seemed to even have a life of its own, just adding to an intimidation factor that the pony had. It was so thick, yet so well combed, it reminded her of Starswirl's glorious beard, it made her wonder how one cared for facial hair like that.

"The Mustache..." Luna whispered, as she shivered in place, not from the fact that her mane was still wet, but from the aura of intimidation the mustache gave off. She gulped as she stared at him, before looking away in the hopes he wouldn't find her rude by staring.

"Princess Luna, my name is Reginald, it is a pleasure to meet you." he said, bowing just slightly to her. "Now, if you will come with me, I shall take you to your room, where you may rest." This grabbed her attention instantly, following the pony out of the room without question.

"So...um...Reginald was it?" she asked as she followed him down the hall. "What is your position?"

"I am simply a butler and an assistant if you need it." he replied.

Before long, the two arrived before large double doors, which Reginald pushed open. Upon doing so, they came upon a horrendous sight. Forget the darkness of the room covering it up, the stench that came blasting at their faces was the first thing that struck home. The stench alone almost made Luna's mane curl, her eyes were watering from how 'ripe' it was. Reginald himself slowly turned to the Princess, his eyes watering a tiny bit. He remained silent however, pulling the doors closed as to prevent more of the hideous scent from getting out.

"Princess, please remain here, I'll return in a moment." was all he could say, before dashing down the halls, vanishing behind a door. Luna waited quietly as she was asked, while she wondered what could've been left in her room that had caused that rancid oder, and the only thing that seemed to come to mind was, a bit of food that she had left there a thousand years ago, which begged the question, why wasn't her room cleaned out while she was gone at least? Did her sister forget to tell the staff about it? Or did the staff simply forget about it themselves? Or was this one of her sister's pranks, ones that she was all too familiar with, recalling the various bits of trouble she got into when they had been younger. It wasn't a much longer wait as several ponies came running up along with Reginald, who opened the door for them, before closing it behind them. In the room a loud ruckus could be heard, as well as plenty of shuffling.

"Are you sure you wish to wait here, princess?" Reginald asked. "It'll at least be an hour before everything is cleaned in there."

"OH DEAR SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT IS THAT!" a shout roared, coming from the room.

"HOW DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT GET IN HERE?!"

"ITS SO GOOEY!" came another shout. "AND STICKY!"

"GET IT, CRUSH IT! HIT IT WITH THE MOP!"

Luna gulped as she listened in on the shouting, her own curiosity growing, wondering what had happened, and what they had found.

"Why don't we get you something to eat?" Reginald's voice asked, drawing her attention away from the door. "I'll go on ahead and inform the cooks to prepare something for you." he continued. "As Princess Celestia is in an important meeting with the delegate of the griffins..."

Luna's eyes widened at the mentioning of this, before she attempted to run off to help out her sister, only to be stopped short by Reginald.

"You still need to rest...only a few towns know you're back...I'm afraid that if you were to burst in now, you may cause a scene." he explained. "So, your meal will be moved to the royal garden for the time being...you do still remember where it is, right?"

"Of course we do." Luna replied.

"I shall bring it when it is ready then." he said, before trotting off, leaving Luna to quietly walk down the halls, alone.

Aside from the chirping of the birds, the garden was relatively quiet, as Luna sat, enjoying the fresh air for a change, letting herself finally unwinding from her ordeal completely, a yawn soon escaped from her mouth, doing the polite thing, even though she wasn't in the company of anyone, she brought her hoof up to it. It wouldn't be long before she began to drift into a slumber-like state. In it, her surroundings changed drastically, first becoming warped, colors shifted from greens to reds. She panicked as this occurred, her heart beginning to race as she scrambled to her feet, trying to figure out what was going on. The colors of her now warped surroundings began to change even further, growing darker, blacker, grayer, reminding her of what it was like on the moon, being alone that entire time, it was a struggle to fight it, a struggle to keep her sanity. The surroundings seemed to melt as she crouched down, clutching her head with her hooves.

Luna fought back tears of agony as she sat there, now in the castle's throne room, at least, so she thought. It was far from the throne room, as sitting upon the throne was what she thought was her, or at least, someone that looked like her, at least back when she was Nightmare Moon. There was something different though, something she couldn't pin on it, as her eyes witnessed this, tears began to form, her sanity beginning to slip. In the back of her mind she began to hear whispers, ones that begged for dark deeds. The voice was...enticing to say the least.

"No!" She cried out.

"Your sister banished you...take your revenge..." the voice beckoned.

"No!" Luna cried out again.

"...Do it...your sister doesn't care about you..."

"S-she does care!" Luna replied, her own voice growing weaker, while the other voice grew in volume, the voice itself was dark, enough to send a chill up somepony's spine.

"She'll just banish you again." the voice pointed out, striking a blow with her already, causing more tears to run down her cheeks.

"No she won't, Princess Luna..." a third voice said, this voice was strong and stern, seemingly very wise as well. "Your sister loves you very dearly, and you know it!" This voice seemed to call out to her more than the previous, bringing her comfort.

"Now, dear princess, return from the world of dreams." the third voice called out, causing her vision to go black, before her eyes finally snapped open. What she was faced with made her leap from the chair she was relaxing on. Just above her she could see a figure draped in a very dark green cloak, which covered most of the body. However, simply judging by its build, it was clearly a male. The creepiest part however, came when she saw his eyes glowing a bright green color, while she had seen many forms of magic, she hadn't seen this type of greenish glow before except in dark magic.

She wanted to scream in terror as he hovered over her, but what caught her attention next left her shocked. For a brief instance, she saw a black mist hovering just on the opposite side of where the male was standing, it was only there for a few seconds however, as it seemed to dissipate into the air.

"Do not worry..." he whispered. "We shall meet again, Princess." She perked up the instant he spoke, recognizing the voice as the one that pulled her back in her dream. He too was only there for a moment, before he trotted off himself, vanishing as he walked into the shrubbery, a gentle breeze blowing as he did, which stirred up a few leaves. Just as she was about to get up to follow after him however, Reginald arrived with her cart of food. For the entire time she ate, she was watching the area of shrubbery that the mysterious pony had vanished into.


	2. A Friend

Chapter 2

There she sat in a room that was pure white all alone. She shifted her eyes around the room first looking at the cabinets that most likely contained an assortment of supplies, before looking down at the counters. Luna's eyes drifted immediately over to the sink, the surface was made of metal, and extremely reflective, very clean, it was attention drawing to her, not for the fact that she didn't know what it was, but for the fact that it was extremely reflective. She peered into it, seeing her own distorted reflection in the sink very slowly, she pulled on one of the handles, using her hoof, which made the water come pouring out of the faucet. She giggled childishly as she turned the other, before feeling the water. She was a tiny bit surprised when she felt the warm water rushing over her hoof. In a second though, everything changed as she heard someone clearing their throat. This caused her to push back on the handles, turning the water off before she spun around to meet an earth pony wearing a white gown.

"Oh! We're sorry!" Luna said, stepping away from the sink.

"Its no problem Princess." he replied, "Now, shall we begin your exam?"

Luna nodded at this, before the doctor took a few steps forward, pulling out a tongue depressor, which is something that she immediately recognized. The doctor didn't even have to say a single thing, she quickly complied with the request presented to her and opened her mouth. The doctor conducted his inspection of her mouth, before jotting down a couple of notes, tossing aside the tongue depressor. After this came a physical eye exam, which left her eyes a bit irritated, this exam followed up into the exam of her horn. Everything became uncomfortable here, as she felt the doctor touching her horn, tapping it lightly, being very careful not to cause any damage.

"Alright, now Princess, I need you to try and channel some magic." Once again, she complied with the request, before closing her eyes. Around her horn a faint bluish-purple glow appeared as she attempted to turn on the sink. This proved to be a bit of a strain in her present state, but she was not only able to turn it on, but back off again. The doctor nodded as he saw this, watching her carefully. His next exam was on her wings, and did this one feel awkward too. As the doctor touched her wings, she let out a very soft groan, her wings being extra sensitive to touch. Pleasure shot up her spine as he made contact with her wings, it was already making her head spin as it continued, thankfully she was able to keep any noises she could possibly make down to a minimum as she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of a complete stranger either.

"Wings seem to be in good shape..." he mumbled, before his attention shifted to her mane, giving it a very quick look-over, before moving behind her. The awkwardness of the visit continued as he began to make contact with her tail, her cheeks turning a bright red as he did. The contact made her leap, using her wings to propel her very quickly across the room before turning to face the doctor.

"What art thou doing?!" Luna almost screamed, her voice growing a bit louder.

"I'm giving you a physical examination." the doctor replied.

"T-then why did you touch my tail?!"

"So I could examine your..."

"No!" she roared, her voice now reaching a level that a normal pony couldn't, this voice left the doctor in shock, as he backed away from her fairly quickly, as he backed away, the princess made her way to the door as quickly as she possibly could, only to bump into Reginald on her way out. The look in his eyes left her terrified, but it wasn't just the look in his eyes, it was the giant mustache on his face that got her. There was something about it that struck fear in her when she saw it, even though she was a princess, she couldn't help the fact that the mustache was more terrifying than anything she had seen in her life. Words couldn't describe it, she couldn't even bring herself to speak up to him, she simply just lowered her ears, and backed right up into the room where her exam continued.

After her little explosion however, the doctor avoided going behind her or messing with her tail from then on, to respect her wishes, and avoid being yelled at again. The rest of the exam proved to be relatively quiet, aside from the occasional cold medical instrument against her body, once it had been finished up, it was requested of her that she remained in the room for a bit while the doctor looked over the notes he had taken during the exam.

The wait was agonizing, Luna sat quietly in the room just listening closely to everything that was going on around her. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall, which seemed to grow louder with each tick, drawing Luna's attention. The ticking itself wasn't too much of a problem at first, but as she sat there staring at the clock, her eyes locked on the second hand, it seemed to grow louder. As it grew louder to her, she became increasingly more agitated with waiting, tapping her hoof on the ground repeatedly in attempts to distract herself. It was to no avail however, as the ticking continued to ring in her ears, almost bringing her to the point of grinding her teeth in impatience. Just when she thought she was about to crack from the ticking, the doctor returned, thus allowing her to release a held breath.

"Well, I have the results of your exam." the doctor began. "You're overall healthy...aside from the fact that you haven't fully recovered your magical strength yet."

"How long?" Luna asked.

"Well, considering you can already use telekinesis again...I would say about two weeks at the least, a month at the most." he replied, "And that's for your strongest magics, you'll be able to tell you're nearing your full strength when your mane starts to change." This gave Luna some relief, making her way to the door now that her exam was complete. Just as she was leaving though a thought came to mind involving the dream she had the day before, at first she felt as though she should speak up about it, but, after she thought about it for another moment, she decided against it, and quietly left the room. Just outside the room, Reginald awaited her, bowing just slightly as she walked out of the room, before beginning to walk alongside her in the hall.

"Be there anything we need to know?" Luna finally asked, turning her head slightly to Reginald. At first, he seemed hesitant in responding, not really talking as they walked. This caused Luna to return her focus in front of her. The clearing of his throat however got her attention once again.

"We have a new Prince and Princess taking up residence here, the Princess is known as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, although she seems to prefer to be called Cadence for short, and the prince is known as Prince Blueblood." he said. "If you wish to meet her, she resides in the room a few doors down from yours, while he is a few more doors down."

"Thank you, Reginald." was Luna's response, after which, she went rather quiet, soon reaching her room again. It would be her first time entering it in a thousand years, and after it had been cleaned up, as the day before, she had to sleep in her sister's room, with her sister. While this had been common in the past, it was a bit awkward last night, especially considering the unusual habits that Celestia had developed over the thousand years, that, and she was a bed-hog.

Luna pushed open the doors using her magic, Reginald simply stood at the door as she entered. The room had a crisp, clean smell about it, which was refreshing to the lunar princess, she pulled back the curtains just a bit to allow some light in, before finally plopping down on her bed, sprawling out on it with a yawn. The fabric was so soft, it felt heavenly for her, she didn't even have to struggle to get comfortable, as comfort was just within grasp of her. For the first time in a thousand years, she was at home, finally able to relax completely.

Luna passed out seconds after she stopped moving, not even bothering to pull the covers over her, this showed the level of exhaustion she had, being able to even fall asleep during the day. Reginald quietly moved over to her, pulling the blankets over her, before leaving the room without another word.

Luna's ears twitched as she slept, tossing around a little. However, it was unfortunate for her as the whispers continued to get louder, as two ponies walked by her door. The voices alone were enough to disrupt her slumber, which only made her pull a pillow over her head in attempts to drown out the sound they made. Even being in a castle, the walls weren't soundproof, and on some occasions, they were even very thin, eventually though, the voices vanished, and she finally let out a sigh of relief. This relief however was short-lived as the ticking of a clock returned to her ears. Even with a pillow over her head it provided little protection against the ticking noise, which only seemed to once again grow louder with each second. Eventually, she gave in, tossing the pillow aside before climbing out of her bed. By this time the sun had gone down, and the moon had risen, unfortunately, by her sister's efforts rather than her own. It was a bit depressing in this regard because it made her feel like she was virtually useless, that her sister didn't even need her anymore. It even made her wonder why she wasn't still on the moon.

She made her way to her mirror, taking a good look at her mane, while a bit unkept from having just woke up, it was still overall fine, although it could do with at least a bit of a brushing. So carefully, she took ahold of the brush with her magic, now finding it a bit easier to lift it than she did earlier in the day. The brush through of her mane was fairly easy, it cleaned up the snarls very easily, however upon closer inspection of her mane she noticed that it was regaining its previous luster, a few strands were beginning to resemble the night sky already, glistening very finely. This boosted her enthusiasm significantly, she wanted to cheer already, but she knew it was far too early to celebrate as it was just beginning to change. Once she had cleaned herself up, Luna trotted slowly out of her room, as she did, from the corner of her eye she caught something very brightly colored sneaking into a room nearby.

'That's strange.' she thought, her mind wandering to the thought of what it could be, or who it could be. At first she thought it was her sister, however, she knew Celestia's coat was whiter than what she had seen, and with a bit of a pink tinge to it. Luna's growing curiosity eventually got the better of her, it would only be a matter of seconds before she began to walk in the direction, moving to the door as quietly as she possibly could as to avoid being heard. She was on the tips of her hooves as she drew closer to the door, and as she did, she could hear voices coming from the other side.

"Yes, just like that!" one of them nearly shouted, this one was the voice of a male.

"Shhh...you have to be quieter!" a female voice ordered. "We can't let anyone know yet!"

"Then let's switch." the male's voice suggested.

"You know how loud I am!" the female's voice almost yelled back. "Especially when you-" the voice seemed to break off there, turning into a very loud moan. To Luna this meant possible trouble as she hadn't ever heard a moan like that before in her life. Instantly she forced the door open, however, the sight wasn't what she had expected in the least, in fact, it was the exact opposite. First, her eyes were met with a pink Alicorn, one she figured was most likely was the Princess she had heard about earlier from Reginald, however the white unicorn she had laid her eyes on was a complete mystery to her as she didn't recognize him in the least.

"Princess Luna!" both of them shouted simultaneously, immediately pulling the covers of the bed they were on over them, thankfully preventing her from seeing anything. That didn't save any of them from embarrassment however, especially Luna, as her cheeks began to burn a bright red, one even visible through her coat.

"We're sorry!" She replied almost immediately, turning away from them. "We thought there was trouble!" The two turned to each other as she apologized, however their cover had been blown, or at least they thought, as Luna began to close the doors behind her. "We shall leave you two be, just promise us that you won't speak of this again." After she had closed the door, the talking had resumed to the way it was, before she made her way back to her own room, in sheer embarrassment, perhaps it had been good that she hadn't eaten much today, or perhaps it was bad considering that her appetite had been damaged for a while as she was left to think about what those two were doing.

It was a very curious question for her, as she had little idea as to what had been going on between them. She was perplexed as she plopped down on her bed again, this time staring up at the ceiling, which had been painted to resemble the night sky. This brought her comfort as she gazed up at it, her thoughts persisting. It was then she remembered something that her parents had said to her about what two ponies do behind closed doors, it was then her blush returned when she realized what they had been doing, and that the two in question were more than just friends, but something more.

After a moment of lying on her bed, she simply rolled off, quietly walking over to her balcony where she sat, staring off to the actual night sky. She watched the stars twinkle in the night sky, looking over her father's glorious work, which she was now charged with taking care of and adding her own work to. Yet, it also made her wonder why so few appreciated the night back then, and while her sister had explained to her that things had changed, it hadn't changed her thoughts on it yet. She was still left wondering why they had ignored her night.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" a voice asked, this grabbed her attention almost immediately, making her shift her head from left to right wondering where the voice was coming from. The wind began to pick up, leaves began to dance around her, and as one moved past her vision a pony came into view beside her. One she recognized immediately as the one from the garden no less.

"Who art thou?" Luna asked, unimpressed by his display of magic.

"For now, all I can say is, I am a friend, princess." he replied.

"How does thou know us?"

"You shall find out in time." His voice seemed to have a calming effect on her thoughts as he spoke, seeming to ease the tension within her thoughts.

"Then why art thou here?" Luna asked, her eyes narrowing at the mystery pony in a cloak.

"To talk, for however long I may have." he said. "I only say my time is short because I know the Captain of the Guard is only a few doors down, and he may have sensed my arrival, and right now, not even Princess Celestia should know of my presence."

"But, why?" Luna asked again, this time, gaining a bit of a look of dismay from the cloaked pony.

"It would ruin what needs to be done if I were to get captured." he began, Luna only nodded in understanding. "I came here to first, give you this." From a bag beneath his cloak he pulled out a flower as blue as her coat, and as elegant as her mane at its full glory. Seeing it made her blush brightly, misunderstanding what the flower represents.

"Much appreciated, its beautiful." she whispered, sniffing it carefully as he passed it to her via magic.

"That, Princess is a Lunar Lily, a very rare flower...one that only grows in the light of the moon." he explained. "They're very hard to cultivate and grow, but if cared for right, they can be even more beautiful than daytime flowers...however, its purpose is far greater than what you probably think." Luna seemed confused by this, assuming that it just meant he wished to romance her.

"Than...what is it for?"

"Its...to help keep you safe." This was the last thing he was able to say before the door swung open, in an instant the white unicorn charged at him, only to end up meeting an illusion that vanished in a flurry of various leaves from different types of plants. Once he was able to regain his composure after tripping through the wall of leaves, he looked up at Princess Luna, in a very confused manner.

"Who was that?" Luna remained silent for a moment, as she reentered her room from the balcony, setting the Lunar Lily into a vase before finally turning to him.

"A friend."


	3. Arrival

Chapter 3

Celestia found herself finishing up her paperwork that Nightmare Night after Luna had left, it had been a surprise to the Lunar Princess that there was a holiday for her, let alone one related to her former self, Nightmare Moon, so, in her curiosity she set out to the town in which she was saved in, leaving Celestia to handle the remainder of the paperwork as per usual. For the most part, Celestia had found that the evening had been relatively quiet compared to the rest of the day, while she'd love to be with the staff at the party that they threw every holiday or special occasion, she was left unable to.

A sigh slipped from her as she read through another scroll, her boredom starting to gnaw at her. It was almost criminal that she couldn't celebrate like she thought her sister was in Ponyville. She soon set aside a scroll, groaning in her own dismay at the request she had missed, this was the most frustrating part of the job, receiving letters from all over Equestria for an abundance of reasons, most of which were simply minor, but as one of the leaders she knew all too well that she had to at least respond to them, it was only proper. Often it was even requested that she attend charity events, or even celebrations in the cities and towns, thankfully though at least tonight there hadn't been any requests for her to be anywhere, otherwise she'd be falling even more behind.

At least with Luna back at her full strength things would begin to get easier on her, at least she assumed as much anyhow. Things wouldn't be easy tonight however, as in the middle of reading through another scroll that was requesting her presence at a charity auction in Manehatten, the door to the throne room flung open with considerable force. This grabbed her attention instantly, forcing her to look up from the scroll, to her displeasure though, no one was there, at least that's what she thought. That was, until a breeze began to fill the room, with leaves fluttering in it.

'Did someone leave a window open?' she wondered, setting aside the scroll, as she did more leaves began to flutter into the room, beginning to gather and spiral around before her. Before her eyes the leaves appeared to duplicate and fill the room rather fast, by this time the door had closed itself so she figured that it was someone's attempt to scare her. It only made her laugh softly as she watched it unfold. In the center of the swirling leaves, a cloaked figure appeared, once it had appeared the leaves began to settle.

"I'm sorry for the mess, Princess Celestia." he said, lowering his hood with his hoof. This revealed that it was a unicorn with a long, but rough dark brown mane for males and bright green eyes, which seemed to fade to their normal brownish color as the leaves settled to the ground.

"No, its fine, I rather enjoyed the show, mind doing it again?" she asked humorously, earning a soft chuckle from the unknown unicorn.

"Unfortunately, not at the present, as I came to talk to you." The tone of his voice was enough to grab her attention further, thus making her narrow her eyes toward him.

"Before anything else...might I ask your name?" Celestia asked.

"I am...a friend." Her eyes widened for a second when she heard that line, recognizing it from an incident that had occurred a few months back after her sister had received a flower from a mysterious cloaked pony. At first she had brushed it off as someone trying to romance and impress her sister, but now before her stood one of the four ponies who actually knew about that. Normally it would take quite a bit to shock her, however, this was different, this pony had proven to at least have some very unusual magic, and magic that was possibly equal to her own in terms of use, as was displayed not that long ago.

"Is this a joke?" she asked, her voice showing mild concern. "Last time you were here, you sneak by all the guards, and you even humiliate the Captain of the Guard." The unicorn seemed a bit shocked to her response, however he did figure he had probably left them feeling at least a bit insulted.

"To be fair...he...Shining Armor, I believe his name was...humiliated himself by charging at someone he didn't know a thing about." he replied. "And I didn't mean any harm by what I did either...however I didn't have the time to put in a request to meet Princess Luna, as I didn't have the time to put in a request to meet you, Princess." Even in his response, his voice, while remaining very serious, remained extremely calm and relaxed, showing he had experience in having to think under pressure. Now it was Celestia who found herself under a bit of pressure by a unicorn no less, it was aggravating, causing her to grind her teeth a little bit under the pressure. She struggled in silence for several seconds, before finally sighing in defeat.

"If it was important...you could've put in an urgent request, you know." She finally said.

"I still didn't have that kind of time...nor did I even have the luxury to do as such." he replied. "At the time I was on a mission...and up until today, I didn't think I'd actually be done with it."

"And what is this mission you speak of?" Celestia asked, her eyes gaining a glow of curiosity.

"Well..." Just as he was about to begin though, the white unicorn, Shining Armor bursts through the door, this time with several more guards by his side, all of which were unicorns.

"GET HIM!" he ordered in a rather loud voice, one that held quite a bit of anger.

'Worst timing in the world.' the mysterious unicorn thought as several of the guards surrounded him.

"He's of no threat." Celestia said.

"But, he...!"

"Stand down, Shining Armor." Her voice became rather stern when she spoke this time, the unicorn simply chuckled in response as the captain of the guards gave the gesture for his men to step down.

"I think its for the best anyway..." he finally said. "If you knew who I was, then you would know I'm not a unicorn you should be messing with." Once again, Celestia's curiosity grew to an even higher level, now to the point where she was beginning to become annoyed. He quickly turned his attention to the Princess, his eyes speaking for themselves. "Would you mind if we took our little chat somewhere a bit more private?"

"Gladly...I need a break anyhow." As the princess said this, she stepped down from her throne, the guards moving aside from the unicorn whom began to follow her out of the throne room. "And you never did answer my question...what is your name?" a chuckle came from him at this point.

"Guess it slipped my mind." he mentioned. "My name is Emerald Crescent, you might remember me from that little job I was hired to do about five years ago." She broke out into laughter at this point, turning to him as they walked down the halls.

"You mean, you're the one they hired to find that scroll?"

"Yep, and I was paid pretty handsomely from that little job...although its not usually within my job description." he explained. "But...it did give me a chance to scope out the castle before my job now." Her laughter died down after a few moments when she heard this, going through the door to her room. Emerald himself entered soon after her, being sure to hold the door for the Princess. Unlike Luna's room, Celestia's room was decorated with very bright, daytime colors. Curtains were a bright, sky blue, while the carpet was a pink similar to the pink in her mane. The best feature however, was the ceiling of the room, which seemed to be similar to Luna's, taking on the appearance of the daytime sky.

"Might I ask what this job is now?" Celestia asked as they both sat around a table. It took Emerald a few seconds to get comfortable, but just as he was about to speak, Reginald opened the door to the room.

"You called Princess?" he asked, upon him entering, Emerald's eyes locked onto the pony's mustache, which caused his eyes to become wider than plates. Never in his

"Dear sweet mother of mustache!" he shouted. "And I thought Starswirl's beard was epic!" The remark seemed to go over Reginald's head though, as he had gotten similar reactions when someone had first met him. Celestia simply giggled at Emerald's reaction, before clearing her throat.

"Yes, could you bring us some tea?"

"Herbal, if you will." Emerald added, "I'd prefer it, but if you don't have any...I'm fine with anything...if that's alright with you, Princess."

"Tis fine." The door closed behind Reginald as he had vanished back into the hall to retrieve the tea requested of him while the two were left to wait, which wasn't very long as he had returned with a pot of tea and the cups fairly quickly. Celestia was the first to take a sip, followed by Emerald.

"Well, this job...was asked of my family generations ago...by the King and Queen." he said, hearing this made Celestia freeze as she was sipping her tea, before spitting it in Emerald's face due to the simple shock of what he had said.

"M-mom and Dad...hired you...?" This is where her tone changed a bit, as she set down her tea, bowing slightly to apologize for spitting tea in his face, which he wiped away with a small cloth that had come with the tea cup.

"On Starswirl's request, yes." he finally replied, taking another sip of his tea. "It was a very long time ago, and the only one actually aware of the contract aside from my mother, is my eldest brother, Silver."

"Then why isn't he here?"

"Because no one knows where he is or how to reach him anymore." Emerald stated, "You see...my family is very strange...he was born an Alicorn, much like you...and while he could easily handle this job...he vanished when I was very young...no one has heard from him since." As she listened to him, she nodded, understanding him very well.

"Lack of knowledge aside though, why couldn't your other brothers handle it?"

"While both of them are skilled in their own rights...my other brothers are not unicorns, they're an earth pony and a pegasus." Emerald answered. "And while Adamant has the gift of foresight, he lacks the ability to use it to its full potential...and Crimson...well...he was invited to join the Wonderbolts once...but, they had to deny him entrance after seeing just how insane he was...do I need to remind you of that pegasus that took out the pie shop by accident?" When she was told this, she had taken another sip of her tea, however this sip almost choked her when she had heard this. This forced her to swallow the tea she had sipped on, before coughing to clear her throat.

"You mean...HE was one of your brothers?" she coughed.

"Yes...sadly..." Emerald whispered. "Those poor pies..." he then shook his head, looking back up at the princess. "Now you see why I have to be the one to actually do this job...because one brother fell off his cloud, one is stubborn even with insight...and the third one is who knows where."

"And what is this job you speak of?" she asked, now taking another sip of tea, this time very peacefully. Emerald then cleared his throat, pouring himself a bit more tea, before taking a sip to help clear his throat further.

"We were hired to watch over and protect you and Princess Luna in times of need...just you two...not the citizens of Equestria." he stated, the tone of his voice shifting to a bit more serious compared to earlier. At first, she wanted to break out in laughter, but the look in her eyes prevented that, as they seemed even more intimidating than Luna's eyes when she had been Nightmare Moon. Even more intimidating than even Reginald's mustache, it was enough to even keep her from the laughter.

"W-why?"

"You see...back in the time of Starswirl the Bearded, before you and your sister had originally taken power..." he began. "He had first developed the technique to see into the future...what he saw terrified him...while we weren't given specifics...from what I read in the logbook of that day...Starswirl had seen Equestria falling into darkness in the future."

"Darkness?" she questioned, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Literal darkness...as some would call it...an eternal night..." Emerald explained further. "And from the last clue I read...you and your sister...would die when it began..." She almost fainted upon hearing this, but quickly snapped to her senses wondering a bit more about the whole thing. The room went silent as they both sat there, not even touching their tea now. Celestia continued to look him in the eyes, her gaze not shifting an instant, as she did she could see that he was holding back on crucial pieces of information, which seemed to annoy the princess.

"Do you know anything else?" she asked, hoping to get a bit more information out of him.

"Yes, actually...I believe I actually know the possible cause of the whole thing." he explained, slowly closing his eyes, to sip on the tea he had. This seemed to calm him down quite significantly as he exhaled softly. Celestia titled her head slightly as he said this, taking a sip of her own tea as she waited. "It has to do with what happened to Princess Luna over a thousand years ago on this night."

This is where Celestia froze, she remembered that night rather well, as it was also the night that she had banished her only sister to the moon. It was the night she regretted the most, the night that had hurt both of them the most, she had also hoped that this unicorn didn't know about that night, although she wouldn't put it past him as it seemed that he knew more than he was letting on.

"On this night, from what I know...a darkness seeped out from Princess Luna...created from envy." Emerald explained. "And upon her return, that darkness had consumed her completely, The Elements of Harmony couldn't destroy it...as it was part of her...nor could they lock it up back inside her...it instead split her between her light side and dark side..." This shocked Celestia even more, pushing her to the point where even though she did have questions, which was a first in it of itself in a long time, but, to where she couldn't find the right words to ask said questions. She seemed puzzled, lost in her own thoughts. Why hadn't she seen this sooner? Why hadn't she acted in her own power before this? Were the choices she had made in the past the right ones? Here the Princess began to lower her head a bit in her own shame, unsure if the decisions she had made were the right ones.

"Was...there anything that I could've done to prevent all of this?" Celestia asked, the tone of her voice shifting to one holding back regret.

"From what my family had in the logbooks...most likely." he answered. "While it was caused from many things...one thing remains clear, she had lost her real self in negative emotions...she felt ignored, as though her duties to the night weren't as important as yours were." This only beat Celetia down even further, it was heart-wrenching to hear this coming from a complete stranger whom she didn't even know, yet, seemed to know more about her than anything. Once again the princess wanted to speak up, however, she found herself at a loss for words, starting to feel her own negative emotions appearing.

"Truth be told, Princess, if you had just spoken with your sister, this ugly mess could've honestly been avoided...if at the time you had shown her that nighttime was just as important as daytime, then she may have been saved the fate she had to endure..." he explained, only bringing Celestia even lower than she was when he had previously spoken, making her feel like she was a tyrant rather than a proper ruler. It was a dreadful feeling to her, one she hadn't even given a second thought to until now. "However...there is...a bright side to this." Celestia seemed to perk up at the mentioning of this, her ears shifting from a downward position, back up, to where she could hear him better.

"And that is?" She asked eagerly.

"The dark side that is now separate from Luna...exists as another entity now...which means...it can be captured, and even destroyed." he said. "Which, in truth is a good thing...however, the bad thing about it is, it can form its own body...or even possess another unwilling and unknowing soul." Celestia lowered her head a bit again, not even aware of the damage she had caused until today. It was the biggest shock of her life so far, she didn't even think she could handle another.

"And...how would we destroy or at least capture this...darkness?" Celestia finally asked after another few minutes of silence. Emerald smirked at this, as if he had figured she'd ask it.

"Well, dear Princess...there are a few things actually..."

Dawn was breaking over the land as Luna found herself riding her carriage back to Canterlot. It had been quite the exciting night for her, however it had drawn to a close, and while she wished she could stay, the excitement of the evening had actually gotten the better of her, leaving her physically drained. The carriage landed just outside the castle doors, where she herself slowly stepped off. Luna walked quietly to the castle, her guards right beside her to be greeted by Reginald.

"Princess, a guest awaits you in your room, and he specifically requested that he wait there until you returned." She was surprised by this, normally people who request an audience send a letter at least, but, considering she may of just had one of the best nights of her life, she was willing to overlook the lack of a letter.

"Where might I find this guest?" Luna asked.

"He said he'd be waiting in your room for you." A bit of worry hit her here, and although it wasn't the first time she had someone else in her room, it was the fact that he had insisted on waiting for her in it that worried her. None the less, she extended her wings, before flying off and around the castle to the balcony that was connected to her room, landing rather gracefully before pushing in the balcony door open. The sight she had come onto was simply an empty room, leaving her in wonder as to where her guest could be.

"We meet again." a voice said, this voice made her jump, letting out a small shriek in terror, before blushing softly at her own reaction when she saw who it was. The moment her eyes locked onto his face she knew immediately that it was the hooded figure she had met several months before. As she attempted to catch her breath and slow her own heart rate, she couldn't help but smile in his direction.

"You are the one who wanted to meet with me?" she asked, receiving a nod as an answer.

"I'm glad you're also taking care of the Lunar Lily that I gave you as well, I see its been rooted and potted." he pointed out.

"It really was a wonderful gift, I thank you again for it." Luna said. "Now, you said you wanted to meet with me?"

"Yes...first, allow me to introduce myself...I am Emerald Crescent, and from here on, I will also be your new personal bodyguard." Her eyes widened the second she heard this, now even more curious as to what he had to say.


	4. Family, Secrets and Nobles

Chapter 4

The look in her eyes alone was a hint at something greater, Emerald could already see that the moment he had mentioned the fact that he was now her personal bodyguard. It wasn't just that though, it was the other fact that her eyes were moving over his body very slowly, almost as if she was inspecting him. He grew a bit uncomfortable as she walked around him, her eyes moving over every single inch of his body. She started at his unkept mane, this didn't seem to bother her in the least, acting as if she found it a bit cute on him, before walking around to his side. Using her magic, she removed the cloak he was wearing, gently setting it on the bed for the time being.

The first thing Luna noticed about him was the fact that he had a rather large frame to him, and was very well toned, even compared to most of the guards she had inspected in the past. It was astonishing to see a pony—let alone a unicorn in this excellent of shape. Luna smiled as she moved a hoof over the muscles in his legs, feeling out the definition of them.

"You put a fair number of guards to shame with your body." she remarked, now using him as a bit of eye candy. "How did thou get to be in such great shape?" Emerald's cheeks gained a bit of a red tint to them as she spoke about his body, it wasn't often he had a female looking over it, let alone a princess.

"All of the traveling and treasure hunting I did." he replied. "It was mostly the traveling...but having to move large objects around in an ancient temple helps too." A nervous chuckle then slipped from him to show the uncomfortable position the princess was putting him in, which she failed to notice. Next she moved over to his flank, what made her intrigued was the design of his cutie mark, never before had she seen one like his, and she had seen quite a few in her time. His cutie mark was that of an emerald colored crescent moon with a heart's desire quill crossing it. It signified his personal passion and natural skill, but even with it, she couldn't figure out what it was. She moved back to the point where she was facing him after a moment, to meet with a rather relaxed expression.

"What is your skill?" she asked.

"Its writing romance stories." came his reply, which only added to her evergrowing curiosity of this unicorn. In her time she had met some very strange ponies, but, she had never met anyone quite like him, he was an enigma to her, not making too much sense. He was a writer, yet he was a treasure hunter at the same time, while she could easily see how the two would work well as a shared profession, adding in the touch of romance didn't quite make sense to her.

"And, what are your abilities as a unicorn?" Luna asked after poking at him a little bit more.

"My abilities focus on powers of the land...I can grow, manipulate and communicate with plant life." he said. "Its something I learned in my time as a treasure hunter." It had been quite a while since she had heard of a unicorn that can use nature based spells and abilities, she knew that they were very rare abilities, as well as very old abilities, ones she remembered hearing about when she was just a foal. Yet, ones she had yet to see with her own eyes.

"Maybe you could show me those spells in the future." she commented.

"I would gladly show you my spells and abilities in due time, my princess." Emerald replied, almost as if he was trying his hardest to be a good soldier for her. To Luna it was impressive, yet very curious, it made her wonder why he was trying so hard to impress her. He had already helped her once before, having protected her from either a bad dream, or something else, she was a bit foggy on the details as it had happened just as she was waking up from a short nap. As she thought about it though, she began to lean up closer to the male, looking him in the eyes, given he had a bit of a larger frame than she had, even though she was an Alicorn.

"Sir Emerald, may I call thee that?"

"As you see fit, Princess."

"Well, Sir Emerald...may I ask why you're my personal bodyguard?" Luna finally asked, in truth, he had been expecting that question, but he wasn't quite sure how to answer it for her, he had been thinking about it deeply since he had spoken with Celestia, but even she didn't have any suggestions, given her reaction to the mentioning of their parents. Emerald swallowed hard as he found Luna's cyan eyes locked with his, not wavering in the least on her attention.

"Well..." he began, his mind now racing a mile a minute as he tried to figure out exactly what to say to her, it was then he realized she did need to know the truth, which made him relax after releasing a held breath. "Princess...many generations ago my family was hired to watch over the royal family if anything were to happen...A prediction Starswirl the Bearded had ages ago, in the time of your parents foresaw trouble...Not just you, but your sister as well, is susceptible to this...what happened to you a thousand years ago...while of your own causes...brought something into this world, that the Elements of Harmony gave life of its own to." Luna pulled back a bit, shocked at this claim, at first she wanted to speak up about it, saying that it wasn't true, but she held her tongue, unable to find the right words to respond to his. The princess lowered her head in shame, already aware of the fact that his words were true. She wanted to deny the facts, but she couldn't, she had seen the mist that had enveloped her not long after she had returned, along with Emerald. It was this memory though where a thought came to mind, making her narrow her eyes at him.

"How do I know thou isn't with that mist?" Luna asked, this left Emerald stumped as he found himself being stared down by the princess again, once again feeling like a slab of meat.

"If you don't trust me, fine." Emerald replied. "But, I will assure you Princess Luna, I'm not with that demonic mist." One word in particular caught her attention instantly, causing even more questions to rise in her.

"Demonic?" she asked.

"Demonic is a modern day word, describing something very dark and evil." he answered. "Using it in another context, a demon is a creature that was corrupted by darkness and hatred...Allow me to give you an example of one you may remember that can fit the description..." It took Emerald a few moments of thought, trying to think back to his lessons on history from his mother. "Ah, yes! I remind you of King Sombra...he can be considered a demon, or a demonic unicorn."

The mere mentioning of the name made Luna shiver in fear, she remembered Sombra, possibly one of her more terrifying experiences with her sister. The mentioning of his name made her wince a bit, her gaze now shifting away from Emerald himself, and to her bed for a moment, before returning to him.

"Please...don't ever speak that name again." Luna said.

"Understood, Princess, and I shall leave you be, after your night in Ponyville, I would believe you'd like some rest." He then bowed very politely, taking his cloak with him as he walked quietly from the room, leaving the princess to revel in her thoughts. "Just shout if you need me...I'm just down the hall." She nodded, as she climbed into her bed, feeling the soft blankets and pillows envelope her exhausted form. This was followed by a yawn before she began to drift off into slumber.

Emerald was careful as he closed the doors behind him to Luna's room, not wanting to disturb her just as she was drifting off from a long night most likely. He smiled softly as he looked back into the room one last time before latching the doors completely. It felt nice to be protecting someone to him, it was a refreshing change from what he had been doing as of late, between jobs and barely able to make ends meet. Thankfully though he had the land to live off of and provide substance, at least until today. So, before he would head to bed, he found himself trotting down the corridors, in attempts to find some food.

It was good that he had honed his senses so well on his travels, otherwise he may have had an even more difficult time getting around the castle. He was lucky though, given that he picked up on the strong scent of food just down the halls, thus making him dash as fast as he could to follow the sweet, succulent scent of food. The halls seemed to go on forever as he ran through them. Several ponies seemed to lock their gaze on him as he ran, not really sure what to make of him in the least, before returning their attention to what they had been doing. As the smells grew stronger, Emerald found himself coming up on a door, which once he had walked through, the full force of the scent of food hit him in the face, only making his stomach growl even louder than it had been. What he came upon though left him horrified as he saw a regal male unicorn overlooking the chefs, being picky about the food they were making for him.

Seeing this immediately curbed his appetite, which was astonishing in the first place as Emerald's appetite knew few limits. Along with the curbed appetite, came a shift in his facial expression, to one of disappointment and disgust. His eyes looked over the light grey unicorn, and while he did look relatively strong, he also moved around with a false sense of pride and arrogance, seeming to hold himself higher than most.

"No! Not like that!" he almost shouted. "Throw it out and start over!"

The cook, another unicorn, lifted up the cake that he had been making for the regal unicorn, but just before he could release the magic around it, Emerald made a mad dash to the cake, pushing the trash can out of the way, without a second thought he caught the cake in his hooves. With some even more quick action he was also able to hold the cake together with his own magic, gently lifting it back up to place it on a pedestal where it should be.

"How dare you!" Emerald shouted. "The cooks work hard to make this food! How dare you throw it away because its not perfect!"

"No, how dare you!" he shouted back. "How dare a peasant raise his voice to us! Have you no idea who you are talking to?"

"And I honestly don't care, either!" Emerald scoffed, giving the motion as if he was spitting in his direction.

"I am Prince Blueblood!" he roared, taking a step closer to the earthy unicorn, who seemed unfazed by any motion toward him. "You're no prince in my eyes...you're just a spoiled brat who knows nothing of life in the real world." To say the least, Prince Blueblood was left speechless by Emerald's words, unsure of what to say in response. The words alone seemed to upset the unicorn, given he had never been insulted in the way he just had to this day.

"Good sir cook, would you mind if I took this cake for myself if he doesn't want it?" Emerald asked, bowing politely in his direction.

"You may take it...and you are welcome in the kitchen anytime." said the cook with a smile. Emerald then put a plastic cover over it, before walking out of the kitchen with the treat. As he was though, he turned back to the cook with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Do you think you could make me a pie?" he asked

"What kind of trash eats that common fare?" Blueblood asked.

"What kind of pony doesn't like pie?" Emerald asked. "I haven't met anyone who doesn't enjoy it...till today that is." As Emerald spoke up to Prince Blueblood, he seemed to grow more and more insulted with each passing second, and judging by the frustrated look on his face, he was relatively close to snapping already.

"Even Princess Celestia enjoys pie every now and again...at least, from what she told me." he mentioned, this only further insulted Blueblood, his cheeks beginning to burn a bright red from anger as he couldn't do much except stand in place as Emerald took his leave from the kitchen. "Oh, and if I see you mistreating the staff again, I won't be as nice as I was this time." he remarked, as he finally walked out into the hall, a relatively pleased grin on his face.

The corridor grew quiet as Emerald walked quietly through it, using his magic to levitate the cake. As he walked, his thoughts began to drift, focusing more on his mission than actually bringing the cake to Luna's room. While he thought, he failed to notice that Shining Armor was approaching from down the hall, calling his name.

"Emerald!" a voice shouted, finally catching his attention. This broke his focus for a brief second, also causing him to loose concentration on his telekinesis, thankfully though he was able to catch the cake on his hooves before it hit the ground, letting out a sigh of relief. Once he had lifted the cake back up into the air, he turned his attention to the unicorn.

"Yes, Shining Armor?"

""I'd...like to ask about those spells you used to get in and out of the castle..." he began, "I mean...those spells shouldn't work...only the highest level teleportation spells..." Emerald raised a hoof at this, cutting him off from finishing his question.

"Before you go any further...allow me to explain...the magic I use, is a type that is relatively old, almost forgotten to the world." he explained. "Its the type of magic you only read about in texts and on scrolls, they're highly specialized magics, so only a select few could perform them." Shining Armor nodded slowly, as it seemed he was able to understand Emerald in his explanation, but he also seemed to have more questions for him at the same time. "Walk with me, and I shall explain everything."

As the two walked, Shining Armor began to think over the multitude of questions he had for who was now Luna's personal bodyguard, which he felt was a great honor. He also wondered why he was carrying a cake with him, and if it was for Luna. It was evident in his eyes that he had more than a number of questions for him, which made Emerald a bit worried because he needed to get some rest and food in his stomach before too much longer, otherwise he wouldn't be able to perform his duties. An idea sparked in him after a second though as he walked with Shining Armor, a grin moving across his face.

"Alright, I shall explain everything, but on one condition..." he said.

"And that is?" Shining Armor asked.

"That, every forty-eight hours, you post the best guards you can spare just outside Princess Luna's door, so I may get some rest." This made him tilt his head slightly, wondering why he would request such a thing. "I only would like two standing at her door, if you will...and I ask this because, I have limits too, I need at least a full twelve hour rest every couple of days."

"Done." he replied, "The schedule will be ready by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you."

"Now...as for that explanation." he pointed out.

"Bit eager, are we?" Emerald asked, receiving a nod. "Alright...as you know, there are various types of spells...but what few remember or know to this day is, magic is divided up into various categories, or colors to some of the more skilled users."

"Colors?" he asked, "Yes, I recall my master telling me about this...very vaguely."

"Then your master was a very wise one..." Emerald replied. "Now, what most know...there is, Black magic, and White magic...that's typically what people know most today...often, they also learn an occasional spell of another color usually focusing around their Cutie Mark too."

"Interesting...how many colors do you know of?" Shining Armor asked.

"I know about several...aside from the magic I just mentioned, there's also Grey magic, Blue magic, Red magic, Amber magic, Violet magic, Green magic, and finally Prism magic." Emerald explained, "Each one grants various abilities, but, Prism magic is above all, the rarest...its someone who holds the potential to use just about any color of magic." Hearing this, Shining armor was perplexed, he didn't know there were so many types of magic, to say the least.

"I myself, use Green magic, while some spells can be common among it...because it revolves around nature based abilities, the spells I know...are all but forgotten...the only three ponies I know that probably know about those spells would be, Princess Celestia, my mother, and my eldest brother." He had to make a double take at the mentioning of the three people, while Princess Celestia he could understand, he didn't understand the mentioning of his mother or a brother for that matter.

"You have a brother?" he asked.

"Yes, three of them actually...and the brother I spoke of, is my eldest brother...I haven't seen him in years, nor have I even heard from him in that time." he explained. "He has a good heart, but he sought knowledge...the last I heard of him, he had gone to the Crystal Mountains."

"And your mother?"

"No one knows...my father abandoned my mother after I was born, she left soon after, leaving my eldest brother, Silver Crescent, to care for the family." he explained. "He did a good job, mind you, but he vanished too..." Just as she was leaving a nearby room, after a meeting with the Griffin leader Celestia ducked back into the room, having spotted Emerald and Shining Armor. As she saw them, she wondered what they could be talking about, but, the instant a name rang out in their chat, she reacted.

"Did you say...Silver Crescent?" she asked instantly, poking her head out of the room. Emerald's attention shifted instantly, turning to the Solar Princess.

"Yes I did, Princess." he began, "Why, do you know him?"

"That Alicorn...yes, I know him..." Her gaze seemed to shift down as she said this, at the mentioning of what he was, it caught Shining Armor's attention, making him feel as though he was out of the loop. The shift in gaze caught Emerald's attention as well, his eyes narrowed, looking at the tiny bit of shame in her eyes, when he noticed that, he sighed softly.

"Don't tell me...you and him...?" he asked, the question being very vague, only to earn a nod from the princess.

"Countless times, too...for months." she added, hearing this, Emerald simply brought his hoof up to his face, shaking his head very slowly. "He vanished after about six months...it wasn't really a serious thing either, so I wasn't surprised when he left...I just feel ashamed that I let myself get seduced by him." At this point, Emerald wanted to slam his head against the wall until there was a hole in it, but he refrained from such an action, as he didn't want to cause a scene or unnecessary damage to the castle.

"While Silver is known for having great wisdom and talent with magic...he's also a very well known pervert." Emerald explained. "Or that's at least what I call it...I just can't believe he was able to seduce his way into Princess Celestia's bed."

"Being truthful though, he wasn't that bad of a pony, he just requested we keep the affair a secret." Celestia pointed out. "It was wonderful too, for how long it lasted." Emerald once again cleared his throat, before bowing politely to the princess.

"I thank you for informing me of this, its at least good to know that at least one of my brothers is still around." he said. "Especially Silver...knowing him, he'll reappear eventually."

"How can you be so sure he'll resurface?" Shining Armor asked.

"I know my brother...he loves guiding and helping others, not only that, he loves flirting too...if given the chance." Emerald explained, as he resumed his path down the hall to Luna's room. "Have a wonderful morning, Princess." he commented, as he reached her sister's door, sliding in quietly. As he entered though, the color drained from his face as he saw the dark blue mist from before just slinking into the room from the balcony.


	5. The Nightmare

Chapter 5

Somehow, as to yet his understanding, the ward he had placed on the lily he had given to Luna had failed to work completely. This left him in a bit of a panic, not knowing exactly what to do, but instead of standing around, he set the cake aside, dashing immediately between the balcony and Luna, blocking the mist from going any further. His stance altered just slightly, to a more offensive one as he stood before it. This is when a chill shot up his spine as he gazed into the emptiness of the mist. In it, he could feel pure evil, not just malice or envy, but evil. He already knew it was the mist from before, but, this time it was stronger, more foreboding. In his own fear, he took a step back, feeling his back left ankle brush up against Luna's bed. The moment it happened, he felt a rush through his body, startled from the contact. This caused him to turn back for a moment, taking a look at Luna, before his attention shifted back to the mist.

"I wondered when you would return." Emerald said, lowering his horn in the direction of the mist. The mist didn't speak in response, as it hadn't yet taken a physical form, but it wouldn't be much longer before that would change. Once in the room, the mist began to swirl around, in attempts to chase him out, however, it failed to even shake the unicorn. What happened next however, proved to shock him. The mist continued to swirl around, centralizing just outside on the balcony as a figure began to form within it. The figure was that of an Alicorn, and very feminine, as well as seductive. The colors of this Alicorn were, while appearing to be Luna's they were on inverse spots, her eyes had also been reduced to feral, and very demonic-looking, now glowing a bright red instead of their former blue-green color. The mist itself had taken the place of the mane and tail, growing into a lighter blue as compared to the rest of her body. The rest of it being a very dark blue, almost black, visibly, he could even see fangs in her mouth. "Night Mare Moon." were the last words from his mouth as his horn began to glow.

"Stand aside, foal." she said, taking a single step into the room. However, the instant her hoof set foot into the room, vines from the walls outside snaked down rapidly to pull her back.

"I will give you one warning, leave now, and I won't destroy you." Emerald said in a bluff, as he knew very well he lacked the power to take on Nightmare Moon alone. She seemed a bit shocked when he spoke in the tone he did, never before had anyone spoken up to her like this, even when she was one with her good side, no one had ever threatened her in that manner. This was enough to make her pull back her hoof, just standing before the threshold of the balcony to judge him. She seemed conflicted as she stood there, her eyes gazing at his body very carefully, looking for any signs of doubt or fear. She saw the fear almost immediately, but his eyes, they were of a different manner. Just looking at them she could tell that he had seem some hardships, and had been faced with tough situations, even though they didn't come too close to this one, they were still enough to push him to the limits of his sanity. She could even see a very rare power within him, one that she knew little about, one that she had only seen once, it was then it hit her. He had been that mysterious unicorn that had forewarned her sister of the darkness and helped lock her away, or at least, this is what she had thought. As she looked closer though, while she could see the resemblance, she began to realize that it wasn't the unicorn from before, but why did he have the same eyes, and the same power that the previous unicorn have? Could it be possible that he was a descendant of that unicorn?

'Seems likely...' she thought, as her eyes continued to move over his body, things began to stick out, things were very different compared to the memory of that previous unicorn. For one, the first thing that stuck out, was the fact that his Cutie Mark was very different. Then came the look in his eyes, while they both had the same look as well as a similar power backing them, they were greatly different. The power Emerald had behind his eyes was nothing compared to the previous unicorn, who had a power all his own. The power she saw, while still significant, couldn't even hold a candle to that other unicorn.

As the silence between the two continued on, Emerald couldn't help but feel the mounting tension. His nerves beginning to grow as he stared down Nightmare Moon, not even twitching from the place he stood. Deep down, he hoped that she would take his bluff seriously because he had no chance otherwise. He could feel her eyes watching him, every single muscle twitch, he dared not move in the least from the stance he had taken for fear of it giving away his only hope. Instead though, he began to focus his magic, making his eyes glow with his nature energy, first beginning around his horn, then moving on to his eyes. Seeing this made Nightmare Moon take a step back, feeling the effects of his intimidation tactic. He smiled inwardly as he took a step forward with her step back. She didn't seem too scared otherwise, just more nervous.

"I said to leave! Or else!" he shouted, "You have till the count of three!"

This seemed to make her panic a bit, taking another step back.

"One!"

The sense of panic continued to grow as she heard his voice begin, the vines in front of her beginning to shift around as he began to channel his magic.

"Two!"

A quickened heart rate was the next thing to strike Nightmare Moon. As the tension rose, she took another step back, allowing Emerald to take a step forward, attempting to intimidate her further.

"Three!"

The instant he shouted three, her body began to vanish, turning back into the mist that she was before, before flying off into the sky. As the mist vanished from view, the vines around the balcony entrance began to recede and Emerald finally relaxed, letting go of a held breath before walking to the balcony.

'She'll be back...' he thought, before turning his attention to Luna, where his concerns now lied. He had to make sure she was safe, it was priority, but he also had to make sure she could perform her duties as well, it was a tough situation, and one he'd for sure need to talk to Luna about, but that was something for a bit later, as he didn't want to disturb the princess' slumber. After a moment on the balcony, he returned to the room, only to have the door open very slowly, Shining Armor's head poking in.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, the tone of his voice lowering as he noticed Luna still asleep.

"For now, everything is fine." Emerald replied, "I'm just surprised Luna was able to sleep through it." As he said this, he moved over to her bedside, pulling the covers over her just a bit more, hearing a faint murmur from her, which he couldn't quite make out. "I guess her night in Ponyville was more tiring than I thought."

"But...what was it that you were yelling at?" Shining Armor asked.

"It was...Nightmare Moon." he said.

"But...I thought Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon!"

"You're right there...however, the Elements of Harmony...only worked to separate her from her dark form...creating a separate entity...and apparently, just like Princess Luna regaining her strength, her dark self has also gained strength...and a fair bit more than I had anticipated."

"Then I will...!" before he could finish though, Emerald essentially shoved his hoof into Shining Armor's mouth.

"No...with how strong she's become...protection spells will prove useless, and even if you tried...she may just target you and kill you." he pointed out. "And you're far too valuable to the kingdom to risk your life unnecessarily."

"But, its my job to ensure that everyone in Canterlot is safe!" he forced out, pushing the hoof aside. "And that includes the royal family!" Emerald let out another soft sigh, gesturing to Shining Armor to move aside to let him into the hall, he did as such, before the door was closed behind them.

"I am well aware of this, Sir Shining Armor...but, my family was specifically hired for situations like this...to protect the royal family more individually in times of true need." Emerald explained. "It was in one of my mother's old scrolls from Starswirl the Bearded, which have been in my family for generations...that, if anything were to happen to the royal family...Luna, Celestia, Cadence, or Blueblood, regardless of whether we like them or not...we were hired a long time ago to protect them...and apparently a thousand years ago...one of my ancestors witnessed Nightmare Moon's creation...it was in the scrolls, he witnessed the change from her once good natured self, to the beginning of Nightmare Moon...and apparently her time alone on the moon itself, proved to only make it worse...as he had feared." Shining Armor listened carefully the explanation, nodding slowly as he understood it, his face showing horror and dread as he listened. "And the thing is...from the picture on the scroll, and what I saw today...I can corroborate with that theory too...that thousand years on the moon actually proved to strengthen her...and now being back in the world...she can actually prey on innocent lives...which is also how she has gained so much strength so fast..."

"You mean...?" he asked.

"Yes...I mean she's been preying on innocent ponies, gathering her strength from them...she's stronger now than she was when she was one with Princess Luna." Emerald pointed out. "And, if she reunites with her light half...she'll become unstoppable...even the King and Queen would fall to her...and night would be eternal." The white unicorn gulped as the story was told, he shook in his place as he listened, now terrified at the prospect of Nightmare Moon.

"Is there...any way to stop her?" he asked.

"Yes...actually...there are two possible ways, well, at least that I know of." Emerald answered. "One lies in an amulet that can capture and contain the essence of Nightmare Moon, which'll allow Princess Luna to control her, as long as the spell is done right...the second...is far more dangerous." He seemed confused by this answer, bringing forth more curiosity.

"And the second way?"

"If all else fails...the Princess will have to face Nightmare Moon...and overcome her. Magically, physically, and emotionally...if she waivers for even a second though...she'll be consumed and this Princess will cease to exist." He closed his eyes as he continued to explain, but after he went silent and opened his eyes, a grin moved across his face. "But don't worry...I will ensure that she doesn't waiver in the least...I will protect her to the end of my life." He seemed to go silent after this, his attention shifting elsewhere. "Now, if you'll pardon me...I need to get something to eat...I haven't eaten anything all day and I'm starving." They both quietly parted ways at this point, Emerald heading off to the kitchen he had visited before in hopes that they had finished the pie he had requested, while Shining Armor went off to organize the schedule for the guards.

Without a second thought, the princess wrapped her front legs around the nearest thing she knew was there. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the warm, muscled form of a stallion, her stallion. His chest was warm, his coat was soft and she enjoyed it deeply, her head using it as a pillow as he wrapped his own legs around her, bringing her much closer than she had been before. The strange thing about this though, was the simple fact that she didn't remember anyone in her bed with her when she had gone to sleep, but she didn't give it a second thought, as she enjoyed the extra warmth.

"My...someone is feeling quite cuddly this evening." the stallion said, the voice rang in her ears in particular as it seemed rather familiar to her, yet, she couldn't pin down who's it was. The curiosity burning in her made the princess slowly look up in response to the voice, to her dismay though, the darkened room prevented her from seeing the stallion's face, she couldn't even make out whether he was a unicorn or an earth pony. However, she could already figure that he wasn't a pegasus, as she didn't feel any wings on his back.

"How can I resist?" she asked. "You're always so warm."

He seemed to tighten the embrace she was now in just a tiny bit, before placing a very soft kiss on her head. This made Luna blush just slightly, before she pushed him away slightly, kissing him just as softly on his chin. Here, in the arms of a stallion she didn't recall in her bed the previous night, filled with emotions that hadn't been there before, it was confusing to the princess. While she did enjoy this, having never experienced being in such close contact with a male before, she continued to wonder. As she did, she snapped to her senses fairly quickly, realizing that it was nearly time for her to raise the moon. Immediately, she pushed away from the stallion, as much as she didn't want to, and rush to the balcony of her room. She drew back the curtains to meet with the setting sun, just as it was setting, she focused her magic as quickly as she could, bringing the moon just over the horizon in the nick of time.

"That was close." she muttered, before turning her gaze back into her room, where she saw the figure of the stallion climbing out of the bed. She still couldn't make out very much from the figure considering how dark it was in the room.

"You know, you really shouldn't stress out so much, its not good for your health right now." the stallion advised, "I'm sure the people will understand if you're not on time every single day since we made the announcement."

"But...I have a duty to everyone, I must do my job." Luna replied without giving a second thought. "And, someone has to...!" She was cut short however, by being pulled into a deep and passionate kiss by the stallion, this caught her by surprise, but, she eased into it fairly quickly, wrapping her wings around him.

"You also have a duty to our child, my love." he whispered, her eyes widened in shock, it was here that she realized that she was dreaming, yet she couldn't stop herself from looking down at her stomach. Adding to the shock was the fact that her naturally lean form had vanished, having been replaced by a more rounded stomach. The princess' eyes snapped open instantly, raising herself from her bed in complete shock, her heart racing and her eyes as wide as plates. Luna turned her head to the window to find that the sun was relatively close to setting, it wasn't quite time yet, but it was close. She then lifted up the covers to look at her figure, finding that she was once again her naturally lean form. A sigh of relief came from her as she flopped back onto her bed.

It hadn't been a terrifying dream, nor had it been a bad dream for that matter. It was more of a confusing dream, as she found her mind wandering over every single detail of it. What could the dream mean? Was it her body's way of saying that's the life she wanted? Who was that stallion in her dreams too?

"His voice...it seemed familiar..." she muttered, looking back on every detail she could remember of him. While she hadn't seen the color of his coat, nor if he was a unicorn or an earth pony, she knew he had to be one of them. Eventually though, as she continued to ponder her dream, a smell brushed past her nostrils, it was the smell of a pastry and this sweet scent was enough to shift her focus, especially when her stomach rumbled. On her dresser, she spotted the cake that Emerald had left for her, a smile crept across her face. How did he know she loved cake? A second thought wasn't given to it in the least as she leapt out of bed, dashing over to it.

At first, she thought about proper manners and watching her figure, but that was tossed aside as the scent combined with her hunger got the best of her. While she did watch how fast she ate, she still took several bites of it, savoring each one. This allowed for the sweet sugary flavor to cover every inch of her mouth. Once she ate her fill, she replaced the plastic covering, saving the rest for another time before making her way to the door.

Outside her room, Emerald stood just finishing up a slice of pie he had gotten from the cooks. A pleased grin moved across his face as he savored the very last bite, before tossing the plastic fork and paper plate into the nearest trash can. Just as he did, the door to the princess room opened, where he politely greeted her.


	6. The Truth

Chapter 6

Emerald bowed slightly as the princess trotted out of her room. As she walked out, she was a tiny bit surprised to see the unicorn there to greet her. The first thing that crossed her mind was if he had actually gotten any sleep yet, which was answered fairly quickly as she saw the rather exhausted look in his eyes, and the dark circles around them.

"Good afternoon, Princess." he spoke up. "Did you sleep well?" It was here when she heard his voice that her heart skipped a beat, the voice of Emerald was eerily similar to the one she had also heard in her dream. Was it coincidence that the voices were the same? Could that dream of been a vision? Luna quickly shook off these questions, figuring they weren't that important as the two proceeded down the hall.

"I did indeed." she replied after a moment.

"Did you enjoy the cake I left for you?" came his next question, which answered her first for him.

"It was wonderful, thank you." she said, turning to him with a smile. "But...how were they able to make it so fast? The chefs are usually relatively busy." Emerald chuckled in response to this as he walked by the Princess' side, only moving aside to let somepony else through.

"Well, Prince Blueblood had requested a cake apparently...but because it wasn't 'perfect', he ordered it to be thrown away...I saved the cake from being tossed, and chewed out Prince Pompous." he explained, earning a quiet giggle from the princess, this occurred before confusion set in, which caused her to turn her head to him.

"Prince Blueblood?" she finally asked. "Who is he? I've heard the name, but I haven't met him yet." he was surprised to hear this, Luna had been back for several months now, and she had yet to meet him. It took Emerald a moment to gather himself for a response on the prince.

"From what I've heard from your sister, he's a distant relative on your mother's side of the family, your nephew, about fifty-two times removed." Emerald began. "And from what I know personally and from the staff, he's a bit self-centered, having lived a relatively sheltered and pampered life." Luna could only nod as she listened, before a sigh escaped her. She looked back at the unicorn with a bit of a troubled look on her face, his mane was a ragged mess by this time, and his coat was in pretty rough shape as well. She could already tell he was near his limit and it was rather troubling to her.

"Did you at least get something to eat after all of that?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes, the chef who was being hounded said I was welcome to anything I wanted, whenever I wanted." he said. "So, I requested a pie after I placed the cake in your room...and...well...did the job I was hired to do so far." This grabbed her attention instantly, a bit wide-eyed she froze in place, before stepping aside in the hall, gesturing for him to do the same.

"What happened exactly?" Luna asked, the tone of her voice changing just slightly.

"Well...as I was bringing the cake to your room, I found myself faced with...Nightmare Moon." It was now Luna's turn to be shocked when she heard this, at first, she was left speechless that her bodyguard had done his job so far in protecting her rather well, but at first she assumed that he had actually stood up to her with his own power and won in a fight.

"You fought her?!" she almost shouted, "And you walked away without so much as a scratch?" Emerald shook his head very slowly with his eyes closed, as if he was saying he hadn't.

"I didn't fight her, Princess..." She seemed to calm down from a tiny bit of excitement from hearing this. "She's far too powerful for me to handle, I could feel it in the air as I came face to face with her...I did beat her in a way though, I chased her off for now...I used a bit of intimidation to make myself seem stronger than I actually am."

"Then how will you be able to protect me?" she asked, "I'd rather not have you risk your life so willingly for my sake."

"Its my duty, Princess, I'm bound to an oath that was made to your family a long time ago...plus, I still think there is a way she can be stopped." he mentioned, bowing lightly to her again.

"How?"

"Well, while she's been feeding, like most creatures of darkness do...she's still incomplete." Emerald pointed out. "I could see it in her, even though she's gained quite a bit of strength and a physical form, she's not complete."

"What does she need to be 'complete'?" Luna asked, tilting her head slightly.

"My guess is...she needs your power to become complete." he answered. "And the bad news with this...in her present state alone...it would take both you and your sister to stop her...considering she knows everything you know." Luna's eyes widened a tiny bit as she continued to listen.

"If she knows everything I know, then how do we stop her?"

"That, would require some rather careful research, my dear princess." he pointed out. "As things stand though, like I told Shining Armor, I only know two ponies who have even a small chance of being able to stop her on their own."

"If you know two ponies that can stop her, why can't we contact them?" Luna asked, with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"They're...out of reach of the world." Emerald said, the tone of his voice lowering.

"They're...?" Luna was about to ask, only for him to shake his head very slowly.

"One is my mother...and no one is sure what happened to her." he said. "She vanished not long after I was born, leaving my eldest brother to take care of the family..." The simple mention of his mother made the unicorn lower his head a bit. Luna raised her hoof, pulling the unicorn into a warm embrace. He didn't fight back in the least, seeming to enjoy it rather. Soon after it broke, and a faint smile had returned to Emerald's face, along with a bit of blushing from both of them.

"The other, happens to be my brother, however, like my mother, he's...complicated to reach." Emerald explained. "While I'm sure he could be tracked down...as I've just gained a clue as to his whereabouts over the past year..."

"You have?!" Luna interrupted, having accidentally used the royal Canterlot voice in her own surprise. This threw the unicorn for a loop, almost knocking him off his hooves, when she noticed it, a blush spread across her cheeks before she spoke again. "If you have, why haven't you tried contacting him!"

"Well...you see...I only just heard this morning of it, from your sister." His tone seemed to change slightly as he spoke of his brother, as if to one of disappointment. "I'd rather not contact him and bring him here, for your sister's sake." Luna seemed perplexed by the sudden change in his behavior, she could already see that he didn't like talking about his brother very much by the tone of his voice, but she could also see that, in his eyes he held a deep love for all those he saw as family.

"Why is that?" Luna couldn't help but ask.

"Well, you see, Silver Crescent, while he is a very monk-like individual, and a very powerful and knowledgable Alicorn..." he paused, Luna listening carefully. "He's a known pervert..." At first, she didn't seem to understand what he was getting at, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"What do you mean?" she asked, not quite grasping the context in which he had used the word.

"He and your sister..." He didn't even have to finish his sentence, at the mere mentioning of this, Luna's cheeks went bright red.

"Oh!"

"Now you see why...for your sister's sake, I'd rather not bring him here." Luna nodded, understanding his words.

"What would you suggest then?" she asked.

"Well, I could conduct some research in the Archives, then inform you of my findings, if I can find anything." Emerald's expression shifted drastically at this point, as if he was already ready to do as such.

"And I'd like..." before Luna could finish speaking however, his eyes narrowed a tiny bit.

"No offense, Princess, but you do have more important duties you need to be taking care of...and I can't pull you away from that, the people must come first...plus, you're the only one who can counter Nightmare Moon's abilities." Emerald stated, her mouth snapped shut as he spoke up, indeed what he had said was very true, if she was the light half, only she had the ability to counter her dark half's abilities. "I'll tell you now...how she feeds, she feeds on the pain that is caused by a nightmare, making them worse for ponies whom are in deep slumber."

Luna closed her eyes, taking a moment to let everything they had talked about sink in, before she once again opened them. She knew she could protect the citizens of Canterlot, but could she protect the people of Equestria from her dark half? Could she possibly stretch her magic that far? Could she overcome her dark half in her present state? These were all questions she was asking herself as she listened to the chatting of the guards down the halls, while it was incoherent, it seemed to pull her out of the daze she was in.

"Meet me on the tower at nine with any possible findings you may have." Luna finally said, breaking the silence between them, this is where Emerald nodded, before trotting off down the halls. Luna sighed softly, before following a similar path to his.

Time seemed to tick by uncomfortably as he read through the first of many scrolls and books of the evening. He sat at a table that he had found along with several of the books and scrolls he had planned on looking through. He started first with a scroll on darker magics with the hope that it might lead him on the path to finding a defensive spell. The first scroll was an old, tattered one, which he unraveled very quickly, keeping it afloat before him with his magic so he could read it.

"King Sombra...and his dark, crystal based magic." he muttered, speaking aloud as he read. "A very old, nearly forgotten form of magic, feeds off of hatred and anger." As he read on, he took a few small notes of ideas he gained from reading through the scroll, before rolling it back up, and setting it aside, before moving onto a navy colored book, the cover just being plain, not a single bit of text on it. He sighed once he opened it however, to his dismay he found that it was just a book on the history of Canterlot, or at least a part of it. For the time being, he tossed this book aside finding no use of it. The third thing he grabbed was another scroll, this time, it was a bit on his own nature magic, he smiled as he read on, picking up a couple things he never knew about his own abilities, before setting it aside in its own pile, believing it could be of some importance later on.

His next pick was a dark green book, which much like the Canterlot history book, proved to contain quite a bit of useless information, this one even more so than the history book. He shook his head slowly in disappointment as he looked at the collection he had gathered, before his eyes shifted over to the clock, which read about seven o'clock. By this time, the sun was already beginning to set and the crescent moon beginning to rise.

"Only two more hours..." he muttered, resuming his research rampage. The next book he picked up happened to be one that he found rather interesting, it was one containing information on some white magics. In the book, he found a few rather useful spells that were strongly connected to his magic, this he rather enjoyed knowing about, so he jotted the notes down on the spells he thought may prove useful in the future. The first of which was a physical healing spell, which could even heal the horn of a unicorn if needed, although that was for more proficient users of said spell. The second spell he took notes on, was a magic transfer spell, one that allowed one unicorn to transfer his or her strength to another, whether they be a unicorn, pegasus, earth pony or even an Alicorn. As he jotted this one down however, he had to do a double take on a sentence in it.

"Warning: use of this spell on Earth Ponies or Pegasi has been shown to have strange side effects, while they're harmless and temporary, use with caution." he read aloud, before jotting down this warning with his quill as well as how to perform the spell. The final spell he wrote down was a cloaking spell, that when used properly, could hide them from the pony of their choosing, however it did require some sort of object from the individual as it was a ritual class spell. Once he had taken the notes he desired, he set the white magic book aside along with the scrolls, before picking out another scroll. The instant he opened it, his eyes went wide, even though there wasn't much written in the scroll, he was amazed that such a scroll even existed.

"A dark half is essentially one's self, however there are many key differences..." he read aloud again, jotting down notes at the same time. "One difference lies in your abilities, especially if you are a unicorn, while they will be similar, its very commonly known that a dark half will have abilities that you do not, often very destructive ones." This he quickly wrote down, frantic to get the notes he needed, as he progressed through the scroll more information surfaced, some of which was rather surprising, other parts weren't as surprising. That was, until he reached the end of the scroll, where it forced his jaw to drop.

"If a dark half has been freed from the light half, it is treated as a separate being rather than one in the same." as he read this sentence aloud, he let his head fall onto the table, moving to just the right angle where he wouldn't damage his horn. To him this translated into a need to actually get a single strand of Nightmare Moon's actual hair, and not a strand of hair from Luna. He almost wanted to toss aside the scroll in anger, but he rolled it up instead, gently setting it aside as important. As he did, he turned up to the clock, which read eight-thirty, he was amazed at how fast time had gone by, but then again, he had been rather methodical with his research, only reading what he thought was necessary, and putting aside anything he found to not have any present necessity.

'Would be best if I put all these books back.' he thought, he mustered what strength he could to send the books back from where he found them, using simple memory, although it was beginning to wane with how little sleep he had gotten over the past two days. Thankfully though, he received a bit of help from another nearby pony, whom he handed off the clean up to. She gave him a smile as if saying he need not do anymore than he already has, before finishing the clean up herself, as to ensure everything was returned to its proper place.

Here, Emerald ran off, dashing as fast as his legs could carry him to the tower he knew Luna was at. The halls had grown quiet as he dashed through them, only the sound of his fast pace footsteps could be heard. The halls seemed longer than normal as he dashed through them, taking far more time than they should, but this was due in part to his own eagerness to meet Luna and show his findings to her. He climbed up several flights of stairs, running past several guards, he only had to stop once though, to ask which direction the tower he sought was at. The guard pointed him down the hall, and up one more flight of stairs. He followed the directions to a T, finding himself in a room that had various telescopes in it, each one used to see varying distances, and it even had various other looking glasses that allowed the princesses to see all over Equestria with relative ease. He arrived just as the clocks struck nine, as requested of him. Luna smiled as he walked onto the balcony, before turning to him.

"Right on time." she said. "I also hope that you did find something."

"I did." he replied, before coughing in attempts to catch his breath. "Although, nothing that could prove truly helpful, although it did give some insight into dark sides." When she heard this, the princess turned away from the telescope, her attention focusing now on the unicorn. From here, he proceeded to explain his findings from the scroll on dark halves, first mentioning that they are often stronger than their light sides, and tend to have abilities that their other side doesn't, that they also learn faster, and quite often, recover faster than their light halves. As he explained all of this to her, she listened very carefully, engaged in everything he was saying.

"...The worst part however, comes with this...if a dark unicorn were to drain the magic of their light counterpart, chances are they would become...twice as strong as they once were." Emerald said, which caused Luna's eyes to widen. "And considering you're a goddess...if your dark half takes your power...she would gain strength enough to even surpass your parents."

It was here where reality finally struck Luna, everything was far worse than she could even imagine, all of which caused by her. The information proved to be a bit too much for her to take in all at once, it was enough to make her have to sit down on the balcony, which made her unicorn bodyguard worry a tiny bit.

"Are you alright, Princess?" he asked.

"Y-yes..." she replied, a bit flustered. Thoughts were racing through her mind, she felt sick to her stomach as these thoughts continued to cycle through her mind. She was silent for nearly five minutes before speaking up again. "Not just Equestria...but the world is in danger...because of me!" she finally shouted, thankfully it wasn't loud enough for anyone else aside from Emerald to hear. After she said this, he walked quietly over to her side, sitting beside her.

"Look at me, Luna." he said, for the first time actually calling her by name instead of by her title. This proved to grab her attention, a few tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "Its not your fault, do not beat yourself up for what happened..."

"But, I...!"

"No." the unicorn cut her off from finishing her sentence once again. "You couldn't help what happened...everything happens for a reason, Luna, and sometimes...you can't really help what happens either." His eyes seemed to bring the princess some comfort, her tears beginning to fall from her eyes, before she stood up. Emerald soon followed suit as she began to off the balcony and into the room.

"I-I must go..." she was able to choke out, fighting back her own tears. As she made her way to the door however, she was faced with Emerald.

"I already said...you don't need to blame yourself, Luna." he said. "It wasn't your fault that everything happened this way." the princess bit her lip as he spoke, even if his words were true, they seemed to fall on deaf ears, the guilt of what she had done weighing even more heavily on her.

"Please step aside Emerald..." she ordered, still fighting back her tears.

"Luna...I'm here for you, to protect you, I can't." he said, this only hit her harder, almost breaking her heart in two knowing that there was another pony aside from the royal guard that was willing to give their life for her. She wanted to speak up, but the words wouldn't come, instead, her tears only began to fall faster, causing her to look away from him. Emerald closed his eyes, knowing words would fail here, so without a second thought, he moved up a bit closer to the princess, before pulling her into a tight embrace. She wrapped her hooves around the unicorn, resting her head on his shoulder, where the tears continued to fall silently. His warmth seemed to bring her the comfort she needed at this moment, which caused her to tighten the embrace a bit more.

"T-thank you..."


	7. Stress and Relaxation

Chapter 7

The December night was cold, so cold in fact, that Luna couldn't even be atop the tower for fear of getting frost bite. Over a month and a half had passed since Emerald's arrival and since his job as her bodyguard had begun, and it hadn't gotten much easier. In the time Luna was awake, he would be conducting research on various things, pouring over scroll after scroll and book after book, to the point where his eyes were bloodshot from having to read so much small text. In the times she was awake, he would be standing guard just outside her room. It was painful to watch for her, especially since she had never seen someone push themselves so hard just for one cause.

On occasion, she would often find him passed out in his private quarters that they had given him, with a scroll draped over his face, or a book covering it. Judging by this though, it gradually became apparent just how hard he had been pushing himself, he was getting even less sleep than a month ago, at least then he would get twelve hours every two days, now, she didn't even know how much sleep he was getting.

Today was no different, as she sat in on a meeting with her sister to discuss a treaty with several foreign dignitaries. As they spoke of their terms, she listened in carefully, being sure to pay attention to even the smallest of details, that was, until she had heard something about emerald gemstones as a trading product, this is where her mind began to wander off to Emerald again, whom she figured was in the Archives again, taking more notes in hopes he could find something to stop Nightmare Moon. Otherwise he was most likely in his room, having probably fallen asleep reading a book or scroll. She found these concerns for him rather strange, while she showed them to others, it wasn't to this level. Even as Luna's thoughts wandered to Emerald she kept her stature in her seat, as to make a good impression on the dignitaries.

As a scroll was slid across the table, Luna turned to her sister with a nervous look on her face. She carefully mouthed a few words, which let Celestia know of the fact that she had stopped paying attention after a certain point. She only shook her head very slightly in response, turning back to the treaty.

"Most of the treaty is agreeable, however, we can't afford to give up too much of our gem reserve, we're already short on it as is." Celestia spoke up. "Is it possible that you could overlook that tiny little detail?" The dignitaries, who remained hidden beneath cloaks themselves turned to one another, exchanging whispers, before turning back to the princesses.

"I guess we could." one of them said. With this, Celestia used her magic to take up the quill, crossing out the aspect of the treaty that involved gemstones, before signing it very carefully. Along with her, came Luna's signature, after which she immediately stood up and left, giving a polite bow beforehand as so she wouldn't come off as rude to them. Celestia soon followed behind her, her curiosity having grown.

"Sister, what's wrong?" she asked as she trotted up to Luna's rather quick pace. At first she received no answer, getting a tiny bit of a brush off from her own sister, which proved to be a bit annoying. "Luna!" The volume of her voice caught the Lunar princess' attention rather quickly after hearing it.

"Yes?" She asked, stopping in her tracks.

"What's bothering you?"

"Its...Emerald..." she began, pausing, only to earn a bit of an unnerving grin from Celestia. "He's been pushing himself so hard so he can protect me...he's going farther than anypony has ever gone." Luna seemed to look away from her sister at this point, before letting out a soft sigh.

"Well, its his job isn't it?" she asked, "He's here to ensure your safety." She turned back to Celestia in an instant, with a rather malicious glare.

"So are the guards!" she snapped. "He shouldn't have to push himself that hard just to protect one pony, just to protect me." Celestia nodded with a smile on her face, the unnerving grin having vanished from her face for the time being.

"And you don't think he should be pushing himself that hard, do you?" Luna shook her head slowly, this response only brought back a hint of the unnerving grin that had been plastered on her face before. Luna failed to notice this however, as her focus proved to be on the ground as she was locked in rather intense thought. As Celestia watched the expressions change ever so slightly on her sister's face, her grin only seemed to widen. "Does someone like him?" the lunar princess' cheeks flushed the instant she heard this question.

"N-no, I don't!" she lied, her face telling another story.

"You're lying, Luna." Celestia teased, which made her sister turn away with a hint of shame.

"Am not!" she snapped back, pushing down the embarrassment for the moment against her sister.

"Are too." This response only proved to agitate Luna, bringing back the blushing on her cheeks.

"I am not sister, he's just..." she began, "A really good friend."

"At least for now..." she muttered to herself, this earned a glare from Luna.

"What was that?" The lunar princess asked, only to have her sister roll her eyes slightly to the side.

"Oh, nothing." Luna's gaze seemed to soften after a second, looking forward again. "If you're so concerned for his health...why don't you ask if you can give him a massage for all his hard work." Luna's attention shifted back up to her sister, however, her look was one of confusion rather than frustration.

"A massage?" she asked, befuddled. "What's that?"

"Well, its where you relieve the tension in somepony's back and muscles, allowing them to relax a bit better." Celestia answered, now avoiding meeting her sister's gaze as to hide the grin that had been growing on her face throughout the conversation.

"But, I..." Luna began.

"You could always ask the staff if they have anything about massage, or you could go to the Canterlot Archives to read up on them before you do anything." her sister suggested, which to Luna wasn't that bad of an idea, as it was still early, she wouldn't have to raise the moon for another five hours. With this, she nodded to her sister, before dashing off. Celestia brought her hoof up to her mouth for a second, giving a very soft giggle before walking off in the opposite direction.

A book or scroll may have been the best choice for Luna as she found herself sitting before the staff, watching them give a massage to another pony. They were very professional and even with hooves, they seemed to be able to get all the right points, causing rather loud groans from the mouth of the volunteer. She could hear the popping of joints and the cracking of the stallion's back, who seemed to rather enjoy the treatment, even if it sounded painful to her.

"Now, there are a few things you should remember, Princess..." a dark blue mare said, as she pressed one of her hooves to the stallion's back. "First and foremost, remove anything you're wearing on your hooves, wouldn't want to hurt them." Luna nodded to this, taking a moment to look at her own hooves. "Second, you want to be gentle on their backs, just apply enough pressure to feel out their muscles and loosen any knots or tight muscles they may have."

"Muscle knots?"

"Yes, they're points of pain that are often caused by stress, they cause discomfort to the one who has them, but are easily relieved." the mare explained. "Most common ones are around the shoulders and head, which is why you have to be very, very careful, use your magic if you have to." Luna gave a nod to signify that she was paying attention, while her focus remained solely on the stallion's body. She watched them press their hooves on every point, taking mental note on exactly where to put her hooves, before they gave her a gentle tap to bring her attention elsewhere.

"And a final note comes where you give them a massage...we'd recommend a solid surface, however, a massage can typically be done anywhere." the mare said, locking eyes with Luna, who once again understood.

"And please be mindful of where you touch their bodies too...you wouldn't want to make any unnecessary contact." This simply made the princess blush when they mentioned it, this in turn caused her mind to wander off to the possibilities of what could happen. These thoughts only made the red tint to her face grow brighter and more visible.

"Princess?" the mare asked, the simple sound of a voice was enough to snap her from the daze she was in. Images of Emerald flashing in her mind for a brief second after before she shook her head, and focused on the mare again.

"U-understood, thank you." she finally said. "This'll be very helpful."

"If I might ask, princess..." the mare began, taking a step closer to her. "Why the sudden interest in massage?" Here, Luna seemed a bit flustered, trying to think very carefully in the wording of what she could possibly say. A multitude of possibilities ran through her head, in one way she could come off as though she has some feelings for him, in the other she could also come off like she was in a relationship with him. These thoughts raced through her head before she finally took a deep breath to clear her thoughts, picking out the one that she knew would work perfectly.

"I'm helping out a friend of mine." This made the mare, along with the other female members of the staff nearby smile a bit.

"Is it that hot bodyguard of yours?" one of them asked suddenly, muttering soon followed the question, some of which seemed to make Luna rather uncomfortable. She didn't waiver though, inhaling before she cleared her throat.

"I don't believe that's your business." she stated, her tone very stern. This is where they took a step back, bowing politely as she walked from the room. Once the door closed she let go of a held breath, sighing in relief before she made a path straight for Emerald's room.

The unicorn's room was mostly darkened as he rested on his back with a book hovering just above his eyes. He only had one light on as he read through it, not relaxing even for a second. The circles beneath his eyes were very dark compared to what they had been, and his eyes were very bloodshot, as a testament to how hard he had been working. Even in his downtime, which included today, he didn't know the meaning of the word rest. This showed in his very messy mane, which was even worse than what it usually was, even his coat was a mess, which only expressed his stress level even further. He groaned in frustration, tossing the book aside as he slumped on the bed. Over a month of searching with little to show for it. Emerald wanted to shout in his frustration, yet nothing would come out, instead he turned onto his side, his eyes locked on the cerulean blue sky outside. The silence of his room was soon broken by a knock to the door.

"Door's open, come in!" he said, his voice a bit raspy from stress. Upon his response, the door opened slowly to reveal Luna.

"Emerald..." she whispered, as she walked in gracefully, removing the shoes she wore first.

"Yes, princess?" he asked, flipping his position so he would be facing her.

"Were you able to uncover anything else that could help us against her?" Luna first asked, he simply shook his head in response to the princess.

"I've been searching for over a month...and nothing." Emerald's voice cracked as he spoke.

"Emerald, you don't need to push yourself so hard for me." she spoke up, in attempts to reassure him. "Nightmare Moon hasn't attacked since that day as far as I can see, everything is quiet." Even if her words were true, Emerald brought himself up, sitting on the bed with a rather nervous look about his face. His eye twitched a tiny bit as he stared at the princess. Just as he was about to speak however, the princess found herself placing the very tip of her hoof on his mouth to silence him. This simple gesture proved to work as he didn't speak, instead, he simply exhaled his held breath. "Emerald, you've been doing a wonderful job over the past month, now its time you get the treatment you deserve." As this statement came from the princess' mouth, she gave a very polite gesture, one he seemed confused by.

"What do you mean?" His head tilted slightly as he questioned her, confused by her gesture.

"If you would please lie on your stomach, I can show you." The stallion complied with her request now, resting his head on a pillow. Emerald didn't speak a word as he felt her weight move onto the bed, unsure of what to really expect from this. What came next sent his mind reeling, it was the very gentle sensation of her hooves on his back, which felt simply heavenly to him. A very loud moan came from the stallion just as Luna began, just feeling out his muscles. It was astounding how tight his muscles were, and how he was still able to carry himself around so readily. Some of these were extremely tight, while very well toned, they were strained.

"Right there...!" he cried out as she pressed down on one of the tighter muscles, a few tears sliding down his cheeks in relief. She had begun on his lower back, slowly moving up. This proved to be a winning strategy for her as well, as he seemed to unwind with each muscle she worked on. "H-have you ever done this before?" he forced out through a moan.

"I just learned about it today actually." she responded with a smile.

"W-well...y-you're a n-natural!" he moaned out. This only egged her on to continue, Emerald only relaxing even further, becoming putty in her hooves. The pleasure he now felt shooting through every inch of his body was blissful, possibly the best he had felt in a very long time. It seemed neither cared that they were of two very different social classes, they just cared for each other at this moment as she worked her way up his body eventually to meet his gaze.

"You...have such lovely eyes, Emerald." she cooed with her hooves wrapped around his chin as if she was cradling him.

"As do you...Luna." he whispered back, ignoring the formalities, his mind swimming from what she had just done. She was transfixed on his brownish-green eyes, while filled with exhaustion, they were also filled with great strength. A strength she had never before seen in her life. This strength seemed to make her heart flutter as she gazed into them. The same also proved true for Emerald as he gazed back into her shimmering cyan eyes, a deep sense of caring radiating from them. One that seemed intoxicating to him. His heart began to race as their faces drew closer to one another, their eyes slowly closing before their lips met. Time seemed to stand still for both of them as they met in the kiss, neither gave anything a single thought from this moment, savoring every second of it while it lasted.

To their luck, it wasn't to last though as the door opened just enough to allow anyone to see inside. The two paid little mind to it, but, Celestia, who stood in the doorway was in shock at what she saw, a smirk slowly moving across her face as she saw it. Slowly, she closed the door, giving the two their privacy. Right as the door snapped shut it, it proved to snap the two from their daze, and pull away from each other with a bright blush across both of their cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I...!" Luna tried to say.

"No, don't apologize, I'm the one who should." Emerald said.

"Why?"

"Well, first off, I'm a simple commoner..." As he began to speak, a thought sparked across his mind, not even bothering to finish the sentence he was on when the idea struck him. "That's it!" The princess jumped back in surprise when he shouted.

"What is?" she asked as she caught her breath from the surprise.

"Since we're not having luck in Canterlot...why don't we head somewhere else?" he asked.

"Somewhere else? Canterlot has the most extensive archive, and one of the best libraries in Equestria." Luna argued. "I doubt we'd find what we need to anywhere else."

"Ahh, but therein lies the problem, Princess." he pointed out. "We have all this information, yet we know not where to look...instead of looking through books..." he seemed to trail off for a moment, as if hinting at something, this is where the princess smiled, understanding exactly what he was getting at.

"We need to head to Ponyville." was the princess' only response. "She might know something that we could use."


	8. Holiday Surprise

Chapter 8

The smell of pie lingered in the air, which seemed to reach the unicorn stallion even in his slumber as he laid sprawled out on his bed with drool coming from the corners of his mouth. In a matter of seconds he shot up looking around for the source of the scent. His stomach growled loudly as he did, noticing the pie that had been placed on top of the small box that sat on his nightstand. He drooled even more when he saw it, making a quick reach for it. He froze however as he took note of the small piece of paper sitting atop it. He took the paper first, quickly reading it over. It read: "Dear Emerald, I hope you enjoy the small gift I left you for Hearth's Warming Eve, and the cherry pie as well, considering how much you talk about them. Your Friend, Princess Luna. P.S. Did you know you also talk in your sleep?" Emerald blushed as he read this, before he set it aside, neatly folded up. Next he picked up the pie, moving it aside for a moment to get at the neatly wrapped box. Upon opening it, he was left rather astounded at what he saw, his heart jumping a little bit as he picked it out from the box very gently not wanting to damage the green colored crescent that seemed to match a part of his cutie mark. On the back of it, a very small pin, one that indicated that it could be used as a clip, which gave him the perfect idea.

Emerald leapt from his bed, dashing over to the door where he had hung his cloak, and around the neck wrap he placed it with a rather proud smile. He soon wrapped it around his body, being careful not to damage the fabric before taking a quick look in the mirror. The pin went perfectly with the cloak, matching its forest-green color as well as the color of his coat.

"Its perfect." he whispered, before his attention shifted slightly, that's when he remembered what the note had said. This was when he cringed, he could've sworn that yesterday was at least the twenty-second. Had he slept an entire day? His growling stomach seemed to say so as he attacked the pie that Luna had left for him. The sweet flavor of the cherries perked him up instantly, several ideas rushing to him as to what he could do for her. He quietly walked from his room in thought as he took note of the sun's position.

"Just past noon." he muttered, gazing out the window. "Plus, there's a party a bit later, and a play apparently going on, I'm almost certain she'll be attending both." As he thought aloud, he walked by several guards and staff who seemed drawn to his speaking. The group seemed confused as they listened in, seeming to wonder who he could be talking to. He made his way through the halls, still passing more ponies, some of which were even carrying decorations. He paid no mind to them however as he was found lost in thought.

"Emerald Crescent!" a voice said from behind him. This caught his attention as it was Celestia's voice he had heard.

"Yes, Princess?" he asked as he turned around to meet her gaze.

"Will you be attending the party before the play?"

"Only if your sister is." he responded, as they proceeded to walk together.

"She said she wasn't going to attend this year's party, that she'd rather be alone this year." she explained. "Said it would stir up too many memories."

"Then I shall spend my Hearth's Warming Eve with her, its the least I could do after she gave me such a wonderful gift." Celestia seemed to giggle as she heard this.

"You mean the massage, or the kiss?" when these questions came from her mouth, Emerald's eyes went wide, his cheeks went red and he lost all sense of what was in his mind for a moment.

"That was you?!" he asked

"Why...I don't know what you mean." she teased.

"The one who...opened the door!"

"You could say that." His eyes dropped a bit as she said this. He could feel a bit of tightness in his throat just simply thinking back to it. His heart began to race as he imagined it, as he recalled the feeling of her lips against his. "No need to worry though...I didn't tell anyone." Emerald sighed in relief when he heard this, more in part for Luna's sake rather than his own, he didn't want to know what might happen if somepony found out about a possible relationship between them. It was unthinkable. What would other ponies think of it?

"Thank you, Princess." he was finally able to say, his voice a bit hoarse from the tension.

"But, that doesn't stop rumors from forming." The stallion lowered his head when he heard this, a soft sigh slipping from him.

"I was afraid of this..."

"But, worry not, everyone who knows of the rumors actually find it cute." she pointed out, which made Emerald's ears perk up. "Even I find it rather sweet too...you're more protective of her than I am, so much so I even advised her to give you that massage." His cheeks flushed at this point, before he looked away from her. It almost felt like she had this planned from the beginning in bringing them together, it was embarrassing to say the least. She smiled however, bringing her hoof up to his chin to turn his face to her, almost like a parent would to a child, which only embarrassed him further. "Just promise me one thing...if I can't protect her...that you will."

"I promise." he replied without a second thought. This pleased the solar princess to hear this, with a smile she began her trot back down the hall.

"Oh, and be sure to find something nice for Hearth's Warming Eve for Luna too..." Celestia requested, to which Emerald was glad to comply, while he never had that much money on hand, he was sure he could find something nice in one of the shops before the day was out. He gave a quick nod, before dashing off himself, while he was already going to get Princess Luna something special, he had to make it even more so now. Upon entering the market area of Canterlot he began to slow down rather quickly, this allowed him to get a better look at some of the shops that were there. He recognized several of them from previous visits, while he failed to recognize others as they had just recently opened. At first, the unicorn wanted to make a stop into a bookstore, but he shook his head fairly quickly, denying the idea that Luna would enjoy a book as her Hearth's Warming Eve gift. It couldn't compare anyhow as he gazed through the glass of some shops, simply shaking his head.

Ponies soon took notice of his behavior, drawn in especially by the pin he wore on his cloak. While they didn't recognize him, they seemed to be able to figure out who the pin was from, which gave them the impression that he was working for Princess Luna. While this was true, he'd rather keep that information within the walls of the castle, being a relatively private and a tiny bit shy. Around this time, he began to pick up on whispers about a unicorn who may be 'seeing' the princess, this only brought forth his own embarrassment.

"Sir?" one pony asked, gently tugging on his cloak. At first he wanted to turn around to them and shout, but when he did turn around he was met with a rather young foal, who's parents were standing nearby. "Would you happen to be that unicorn that is with Princess Luna?" When this question came from the foal's mouth, a bright red glow moved across his cheeks from sheer embarrassment. At first, he didn't know how to respond to this, he didn't want to upset the child, or come off as rude, so he smiled simply.

"Well, it depends on what you mean by...'with'." he replied, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"Dating her?" the filly asked, this crushed Emerald's hopes in avoiding the question completely, making his ears drop for a second.

"Its an adult matter, I'm afraid..." As this was spoken, a sad face seemed to appear on her. "But...if you promise to keep it a secret...I can tell you." this lifted her spirits a bit instantly, nodding with a gesture that she would keep it secret. "Well...Princess Luna and I have kissed once." The filly's eyes lit up the instant she heard this, almost looking as if she wanted to scream for joy in knowing, however upon Emerald's request, she kept her word.

"Really?!" she asked, her tone growing a bit more hushed. "What was it like!?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to find out when you're older." This disappointed her a bit, however when another idea popped in her head, she turned back to him.

"Are you going to get her a Hearth's Warming present?"

"Of course...however I seem to be having trouble figuring out what I should get her." The stallion turned away from her at this point, reveling in his own disappointment.

"How about you buy her some jewelry?"

"I don't exactly have any money on hand...I'm not exactly wealthy." Emerald responded, but it was at this moment an idea struck him. "That's it! Thank you so much for your help." With this he began to dash off, but was once again met with a tug on his cloak.

"Merry Hearth's Warming Eve!" she said, receiving a smile in return.

"Merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you too." With this, she released his cloak before he dashed off. The unicorn knew exactly where to go now, inspired by the filly that had just helped him. He knew one place in Canterlot where he had more pull than anywhere else. He stood before a building he well recognized, it was one he knew from a past guard job he had. While he hadn't been in the shop for very long he knew that it was one of the most prestigious jewelry stores in all of Canterlot, maybe even in Equestria. He inhaled deeply as he pushed open the door, met with a rush of warm air to his face, before his eyes were met with the hundreds of sparkling trinkets he saw behind glass cases. As a treasure hunter it was enough to make him drool a tiny bit at the simple beauty of how much treasure he saw here.

"Emerald!" a voice said, before an elder-looking unicorn dashed up to him. He had a grey coat, with a jewelry related cutie mark. He also wore glasses and since Emerald had seen him last, he had grown quite the beard on his chin. "How have you been my friend?"

"Pretty good, I'm back in Canterlot on a new job." he responded. "Business going well?"

"Swimmingly, actually!" the shop owner said, "But what about this new job of yours?" Emerald seemed to chuckle softly in response to the question.

"I'm back on bodyguard detail again, Tempest." This peaked the elder unicorn's curiosity as he walked back around the desk.

"For whom?" Emerald seemed to hesitate to answer, but after a few minutes, he cleared his throat.

"Princess Luna." he replied, in a very low voice. When Tempest heard it however, his eyes went wide.

"A-are you the one those rumors are about?!" he questioned, Emerald could only nod in response to his own dismay. "Are they true?" He seemed unsure at this point, looking away from Tempest.

"I...I'm not sure..." Tempest seemed a bit disappointed in him at this point, only shaking his head, before an idea struck him.

"As my way of saying thank you for helping guard my shipment earlier this year...I believe I can help you." he began, before he reached into a nearby drawer, pulling out something in a small box. Upon opening it, his eyes widened in simple shock, almost dropping it from his hooves.

"Tempest...this amulet..." he stammered.

"Its expensive...I know, possibly the most valuable item in the store...but, I want you to have it." Tempest said, to say the least, Emerald was left speechless gently closing the box, before setting it back on the countertop.

"I'm sorry, I can't take such an expensive item from you." he said, "If I did take it, it might ruin your business." The grey unicorn shook his head, pushing it a bit closer to Emerald, as if insisting he take it.

"No, you've saved my business so many times, please, take it."

"I can't...it'd be unfair..." the green unicorn argued, only to have his elder argue back.

"Its Hearth's Warming Eve...please, its my gift to you." Even though he was hesitant, Emerald knew very well he wouldn't be able to get out of the store without taking it. He also feared that if he didn't take it, Tempest might slip it underneath his cloak, given the fact he was one of the most stubborn unicorns he knew. This was a favor he was most likely not going to be able to pay back in a lifetime either, but Tempest didn't seem to care. The elder watched as the young stallion walked from his shop with a smile on his face.

It was a quiet evening as she sat before the hearth in her room. Not only was it the only source of light on this night, but it was also a source of warmth for the princess as she gazed into the crackling flames. The past few months had been rather tough for her considering it was her first Hearth's Warming Eve back home. Even on this day her sister found herself relatively busy, having little time to spend with her, this time was being spent at a party in the dining hall with several VIPs. While she could've joined the party herself, she had opted out, having decided she'd rather have a quiet evening to herself rather than be around ponies she didn't know in the least. She lowered her head a tiny bit as she gazed into the fire, her first Hearth's Warming Eve back home, and she was spending it alone. Or so she thought as a knock came to her door, before slowly being pushed open.

"Princess, are you sure you wouldn't like to join the party?" a stallion's voice asked, which she immediately recognized as Emerald's voice.

"Yes, I'm sure, I have never really enjoyed those types of parties." she pointed out. "The ponies that usually attend often put me to sleep, its also why I rarely attend the Gala." Emerald chuckled in response to this, a smile on his face.

"Well then, how would you feel if I joined you?" he asked, her face lit up the instant she heard this, nodding. As he entered, he closed the door behind him, ensuring they'd have some peace and quiet, before trotting over to her. Luna gently tapped the spot on the carpet right next to her, inviting him to sit.

"So, why is it you're not at the party yourself?" she asked as he sat down next to her.

"I don't like formal affairs." he mentioned. "Formal clothing is painful to wear, not only that, I'd much rather spend the evening with you." A smile appeared on her face as she heard this, before leaning up to nuzzle him a tiny bit. Emerald blushed as she did this, yet he also seemed to enjoy it as his eyes seemed to say to the princess. It wasn't much longer until she just simply leaned her head onto his shoulder, content with just resting in this spot.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she used him as a pillow, sharing in not only the warmth of the fire, but the warmth of his body. This was the first time she had ever done this with any stallion, so it was a new experience to her, and one she found herself enjoying deeply. As she relaxed, her heart rate slowed, growing more comfortable, enough so where she snuggled in just a tiny bit closer to him. He smiled softly as she did this his own heart racing. In the time he had spent with her, while it had gone unspoken as he found it unprofessional, he had grown rather attached to the princess, caring for her more deeply than a bodyguard should, and even more than a friend should as well. Little did he know though, the princess felt the same way, and it had started the moment he had given her the lily all those months ago. Which she had kept and taken care of this entire time, to the point where it had grown into a magnificent bouquet that glistened in the moonlight from the nightstand it sat on.

"I have something for you, Princess." Emerald said, breaking the silence. This snagged her curiosity, causing her to lift her head from his shoulder. This made her heart skip a beat, as he reached underneath his cloak, pulling forth a small, neatly wrapped box, offering it to her.

"You didn't have to...!" she started to say.

"But, I wanted to." he replied, as she carefully took the box, unwrapping it. What was in it left her in shock, bringing her to tears. While she was a princess, and was used to receiving gifts often from grateful citizens, she had never received a gift this magnificent in her life. It brought up several questions as to how a unicorn stallion could obtain such a beautiful and rather expensive looking amulet. The amulet itself was just right, having a silver chain, before leading down to a pendant piece that resembled the moon, with a dark blue sapphire in it, that seemed to match the glimmer of her mane.

"How did you...?" she tried to ask, struggling to find the right words to say, as so she wouldn't offend him. "How could you...?" Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she found she couldn't even finish her question.

"The jewelry shop this was in...the owner owed me a serious favor." he said. "I perform guard duty every now and again on some of his more valuable and important shipments, the last one was to one of his most important clients, considering all the trouble there was on that shipment, it was still successful...yet, he couldn't pay me at the time." Emerald continued to explain. "He's a very kind pony, so, I said, pay me back how he saw fit...and today, he actually paid me back by giving this to me free of charge." Luna seemed in shock that someone would give away such a beautiful and expensive item so readily, it made her wonder who Emerald really was. She remained silent however, her eyes gazing at the beautiful amulet and the wonderful gift she had just received, before shifting her gaze back up to him, almost in tears.

"T-thank you." she whispered.

"Now, lets see how it looks on you." as he said this, his aura enveloped the amulet, which he slowly placed around her neck, once it snapped in place, the glow vanished, and he smiled. "Perfect fit." Without a second thought, Luna leaned up, placing a soft kiss on his cheek in gratitude, which only made her cheeks burn a very bright red. Emerald seemed surprised when this occurred, but rather pleased at the same time.

His face turned to meet hers after the kiss on the cheek, their noses just barely touching. Both of them had smiles on their faces. Both of them soon found they couldn't look away from the other, as if they were reading each other's eyes. She could feel his face moving closer to his, however before the gap could be closed by him, she closed it herself. For a second time, Emerald was caught off guard by the lunar princess. At first he wanted to pull away in his shock, but he quickly relaxed, easing into the kiss. Once she felt him begin to kiss back, she pushed forward a bit more to deepen the kiss.

By this time Luna's heart was pounding in her chest again, even though this wasn't the first time she had kissed Emerald, it was for sure the most romantic position she had ever been in. In the time she had been around, she had never experienced something like this. By the time the kiss broke, she was in a daze, her mind swimming in what she had just felt.

"Y-you're a good kisser, you know that?" she finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

"No...I'm not." he whispered. "Its you who's the amazing kisser." This brought back the blush she had on her cheeks not that long ago, before she found herself leaning her head once again on his shoulder, this time closer to him than ever before. Time seemed to tick on by as the two remained huddled before the fire, enjoying the warmth of each other's company. While they rarely spoke, they didn't need to, as it seemed they could read what each other wanted most. Before much longer, whether it was due to the comfort or warmth, Luna slowly drifted off into slumber, which Emerald didn't seem to mind this either. As the fire died though since she hadn't stirred at all, he carefully picked her up onto his back with his magic, which was quite the task considering he was more used to picking up small objects than an entire pony. After much strain, he was finally able to get her into the bed with a smile on his face.

"Sleep well, my dear Luna." he cooed, giving her a very soft kiss on her forehead before he turned to leave. As he was though, he was met with the very common trend of the day where somepony pulled on either his cloak or tail to get his attention, which made him turn around to face the princess again.

"Will you please stay with me tonight?" she asked, bringing even more shock to him than he had gotten before. What got him even more though was the sweet, innocent face she made, as if begging him to join her. "Just for tonight?" He caved in very quickly, finding himself unable to resist the face she had made. He quietly removed the cloak he was wearing before joining her in the bed. She acted very quickly, wrapping her hooves around him to use his chest as a pillow again, nuzzling into it for more comfort.

"Sleep tight, Luna." he whispered again as he wrapped his own hooves around her, before they both soon drifted off into slumber.


	9. The Train

Chapter 9

Darkness was all she saw as she overlooked the land of Equestria. Power surged through every inch of her body as she hovered, silhouetted by a blood red moon. The eerie red glow bringing chaos to the ponies below, as they ran around screaming, buildings burning, a laugh echoed loudly in her ears. The horrific, yet vague vision seemed to melt away and the room appearing before her. She was met with a luscious green chest upon her wake which left her rather startled. Going from a terrifying dream to seeing green wasn't quite the way she had intended on waking up today. After a moment of being awake, she was quickly able to find herself again, nuzzling back into the warmth. As she was though, she felt something between her body and Emerald's. What she felt against her stomach was rather long and a bit hard, at first she wondered what it could be, but when she lifted up the blanket for just a moment, her cheeks went a bright red, before letting them fall.

'Was that his...?' she thought, her face now a complete beet red. Thankfully though after a few minutes the 'object' vanished from between them, which allowed her to finally relax in his embrace again. Once again she attempted to situate herself in a comfortable position, her own front legs wrapped around his shoulders as she rested there. The room soon went silent from Luna's shuffling on her bed, aside from the very light snoring that came Emerald, as well as the occasional muttering involving pie. Every tiny whisper she heard from him her curiosity grew. She soon began to wonder what he was dreaming about that made him talk so much in his sleep. Just as she was about to enter his dream though, something had landed on the balcony to her room. The simple clicking of the hooves on the stone was enough to stir Emerald from his slumber.

"Hold still..." he whispered to the princess, as he slowly began to adjust his own position. By the time the figure had entered the room, the unicorn stallion had already gotten himself into the perfect position to leap at the figure. The figure turned out to be one composed of a shadowy-like energy which seemed to be solidified. He was lucky with this, as he was able to get it down to the ground relatively quickly with little struggle, or so he thought as he found himself being flung across the room with relative ease. Emerald's back struck the wall, making him let out a yelp from the pain that shot through his body. He was able to recover quickly though to once again dash at the pegasus-like shadow.

"You'll have to throw me harder than that!" he shouted as magic began to gather at the very tip of his horn. As a reaction to the magic, the shadow pegasus took a step back, before charging at Emerald without a second thought. The lack of hesitation in the creature didn't deter the unicorn at all as his magic had fully engulfed his horn by this time. Just as they reached each other, he vanished, leaving only a cloud of leaves behind that the shadow pegasus was forced to meet with directly in its face. This seemed to leave it confused as Emerald reappeared from the balcony, once again diving at it. Unlike the last time though, he muttered a few words before pressing his horn against the shadow pegasus' horn, which seemed to make it dissolve into a very strange blue mist that resembled Luna's mane, before it vanished into nothing completely.

"What was that?" she asked, perplexed, yet impressed by what she had just witnessed.

"One of Nightmare Moon's minions." was his response. "Looks like she's learned how to create shadows of ponies, they're often not that tough to deal with if you know the right spell...but this is the sign that we need to get ready for our journey to Ponyville immediately." Luna could only nod in agreement as she proceeded to climb out of her bed to prepare for everything, Emerald however bowed and quietly walked from the room to gather his own things.

Neither needed to gather very much either, Luna didn't even bother packing anything, just simply slipping on her own cloak, whereas Emerald only packed everything he had into his typical bag, before returning to Luna's room to gather the cloak he had left there, and to meet her. As they nodded to each other before they were about to leave, the unicorn took a single Lunar Lily from the boutique that had grown, gently slipping it into her mane to give her an added sense of beauty.

"Perfect." he whispered, as he took a step back to get a better look, only to smile.

"Thank you." she whispered back, moving a bit closer to give him a small peck on the cheek, which only worked to make him blush a bit.

"Shall we?" he asked, moving to the door to open it for her, she thanked him once again as he followed her out into the hall. The two trotted side by side down the hall rather quietly, as they were it drew the attention of the guards as well as the other staff who saw this, raising even more questions on the rumor going they actually together? If they are together, when did this happen? They seemed to enjoy the attention too, turning to each other with the occasional grin, only stopping for just a moment to do as such.

"I believe we should inform my sister of our departure." Luna said, before a realization hit her, which made her turn to Emerald rather quickly. "How exactly are we getting to Ponyville?"

"By the train, if that's fine with you." he answered

"Why the train?"

"It would be the quickest, and easiest way to get around with very little trouble." Emerald explained. "We need stealth, if Nightmare Moon can't find us, then fewer are in danger, and we can't be putting a town like Ponyville in danger." At first, Luna gave him a hesitant look, given she had never ridden on a train in her life, it would be a new experience for her, perhaps one she might like. After their little pause, the walk resumed to the throne room, where Celestia could be seen sitting quietly looking through various scrolls and letters. Upon her sister entering the room, her attention was drawn, gazing at the two of them with a smile.

"Afternoon."

Emerald bowed politely upon entering as par tradition, while Luna simply approached her sister. The first thing Celestia noticed was that her sister was wearing her cloak. After gazing at the unicorn for a second, she also took note of the bag he was carrying, this indicated to her that they were leaving for a reason she did not know yet.

"Sister, Emerald and I are heading out to Ponyville. Could you please send a quick letter to Twilight Sparkle to inform her of our wish to meet with her?" Luna asked.

"Of course, but why?" Celestia asked in response.

"Because, not that long ago, we were attacked, while the threat was neutralized, we must head to Ponyville to seek the information we need to stop Nightmare Moon for good." Emerald explained.

"Have you searched the Archives-" Celestia was cut off before she could continue however, as both of them simply nodded.

"It held little on how to stop her." Luna first said.

"I searched for over a month through both, and all I could find was just some helpful, yet useless to our situation type information." Emerald explained, as Luna shifted her gaze to him, before returning to her sister.

"He almost worked himself to death searching for the information...that's when we realized that, we need more help than just a book." she added. "And the only person I could think of that could possibly help us is Twilight Sparkle."

"And we're heading by train to avoid drawing attention to the fact that Princess Luna is gone." Celestia nodded in understanding of the situation, giving a calm gesture.

"I shall send the letter as soon as possible." she said, "And good luck."

The station had been packed to the brim with ponies wanting to travel everywhere, the post-holiday rush was about, and they had gotten caught up in it. Luck was on their side however, as they were able to get two excellent seats without having to reveal themselves. This made the two smile as they climbed into the car of the train. Most of it was packed to the brim, not a single seat was without a pony in it, young or old. They watched from beneath the cloaks as they swerved around various ponies, once again thankful that no one had recognized Luna's tail yet. This was due in part to how Emerald guided her through the other ponies, it seemed flawless as he moved, being sure to hold her hoof to walk her through at the same time.

Before long they reached the section of the train they had been put in, it was quite near the front so they would have a bit of privacy. Emerald gave a small gesture to Luna, allowing her to take the window seat, while normally he himself would take it, he figured it would be nice for her to watch the land roll by fast once they got moving. She smiled as she took her seat before lowering her hood. Emerald followed suit, taking his seat next to her and lowering his hood as well.

"So, if I might ask, what is Twilight Sparkle like?" he asked, curiosity now burning in his eyes, having withheld the question until they had gotten on the train. "I've heard of her, but, I don't know much."

"She's a very kind unicorn who also happens to be my sister's apprentice." Luna mentioned, "Often very helpful to others, and quite talented with magic, she even knows every detail of Starswirl the Bearded's outfit." Hearing this caused him to hold back a sneeze, coughing instead as a secondary reaction.

"She does?"

"Chances are though, she read about it in a book." she remarked. "But it was completely accurate from what I recall."

"Impressive, I haven't met her, and I already like her." he muttered, "I'm sure she'd like my elder brother's company too."

"Which one? Silver?" Emerald nodded very slowly. "What is he like exactly, or at least what do you remember about him?" the unicorn closed his eyes as the train began to move, beginning its path to Ponyville, as its first stop.

"Silver...he's tough to describe really." he began, opening his eyes again. "He and I have a rather complex history, while I don't see him often anymore, in my travels I've still heard of his various escapades, I've tried tracking him, but every time I do, it seems to fall short..." he seemed to trail off from this, leaning back in his seat with a sigh.

"Does he not like you?" came Luna's first question, which caused him to shake his head slowly.

"No, I'm his favorite sibling compared to my other two brothers, he just likes to avoid me because of what I do when I hear about some of the things he's done." Emerald explained. "And to clarify, he hasn't done anything bad, its his affairs that irritate me, some of them make me just want to smack him." This made the princess roll her eyes with a soft giggle.

"I know the feeling." she assured, placing her own hoof on his before she leaned into his shoulder. "Back when my sister and I were fillies, she did things that just...frustrated me...she still does some of it every now and again...and the worst part is...I don't think that odd smile she often has plastered on her face has gone away, even after a thousand years." This grabbed the unicorn's attention rather quickly, now curious as to why she didn't like a particular smile of Celestia's.

"What do you mean...the odd smile?" he asked, confused, yet curious.

"Its that unnerving grin she gets when she has something devious planned...it often means there will be trouble for whoever its meant for." she explained, slowly shaking her head. "I can't tell you how many times it got us in trouble with our parents either." he chuckled softly at this, slowly moving his hoof around her shoulder to pull her closer. She didn't even bother fighting it either, using his chest and shoulder as a pillow again just like she had last night. "You're a very comfortable pillow." she whispered, as she snuggled right into comfort. "You know that, right?"

"Nope, I didn't, you're actually the first who's used me as a pillow." Emerald added, a smile spreading across his face. Just as she was getting comfortable though, a strange feeling washed over her body, one that sent a chill down her spine, this made her pull herself back into the upright position, bringing her hoof to her head. This feeling wasn't a pleasant one either, as her face seemed to grow just a tiny bit more pale.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he questioned, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"I...don't know, I just feel a bit funny is all." she answered, "To best describe it, its like a feeling in the back of my throat and in my mouth...and its not too pleasant either." It clicked right away when she described this, before he began to gently rub her back.

"Its fine...its just a tiny bit of motion induced nausea." he informed. "You've never ridden on a train before, at least as far as I know, but don't worry, the feeling will pass." His touch brought her a bit of comfort, causing her to once again lean into him, this time searching for at least a relief to her nausea. It wasn't that bad though really, at least with this excuse she had another to hold on tight to him for most of the trip.

She stood on the cliffside as she watched the train carrying Luna and Emerald to Ponyville. By now it had already passed out of the mountains and would be entering the town very soon. A malicious smile crept across the Alicorn's face as she watched this. Since the last encounter she had gone through quite some radical changes in her appearance. Once a blue-purple mix, her mane had become one as black as a moonless night, unlike a moonless night however, there wasn't even a single sparkle in her mane. The armor she wore had become a dark shade of purple, and while her eyes had remained the same blood red color, they held a hunger behind them, one that seemed rather imposing to anyone who witnessed it. Silently she spread her pitch black wings, taking to the air in the direction of Ponyville.

"Nightmare Moon, huh?" He muttered to himself, bringing his hoof to his chin. Even if a pony could see him in his present location, they still would be unable to see his face, this was hidden by a white hood, which went along with the white robe he was wearing at the time. 'I didn't think she could endure that spell I used, but it looks like her determination has allowed her to persist.' he thought. 'I should've checked to ensure she hadn't survived.' The figure slowly stood up on the cloud he resided on, stretching his legs from having to sit on this cloud for nearly a day. His legs were numb and rather sore, and he was rather tired from the high altitude, however it wasn't too bad as he felt a few small pops in his joints.

"Ponyville seems rather unlucky as of late, with lightning striking twice upon it." he muttered, continuing his leaping from cloud to cloud. As the distance between them grew however, he found that he had to use his wings just a tiny bit to reach them. His thoughts were relatively calm, focused more on keeping the Alicorn within his range of vision than what her goal could be. As his clouds ran out, he extended his wings fully, keeping his distance as he flew after her.

Back on the train, Luna had settled a bit thanks to Emerald, having returned to snuggling into his chest and shoulder as she did before, this time with her eyes closed upon his suggestion. It seemed to help a bit as she found her stomach relaxing again. As she was relaxing though, the feeling washed over her again, this time it was much worse, bringing her to the point where she finally shot up, making a mad dash for the nearest bathroom. She didn't bother with pulling her hood up, she just simply pushed aside her mane before she threw up, being sure to do so as to not make a mess either. Not long after she had emptied her stomach, Emerald entered to gently rub her back again, bringing her comfort again.

"It'll get better once we get to Ponyville, I promise." he assured, with a soft smile on his face. Luna gazed at him, even though this wasn't anything serious, just a bit of motion sickness it was still agonizing for her.

"Emerald, next time, we're going to take a carriage." she snapped, before she shifted her position again, to once again throw up, the moving of the train still bothering her stomach. He sighed in defeat, knowing he couldn't argue with her at this point, and that it would be pointless for him to do as such. It confused him though, as to how she could ride on a flying carriage and not feel any ill effects, while something as smooth as a train could cause her to have such problems. Once she was sure the episode was over, she stepped away with Emerald guiding her out of the bathroom, being sure to clean up and flush the toilet that Luna had used. She leaned on him as they returned to their seats, this time he took the window seat as so she had faster access just in case another episode surfaced.


	10. Hidden Within Shadows

Chapter 10

The forest was darker than he remembered, but then again he hadn't visited it frequently due to the various creatures that existed in it. While he wasn't concerned with the vast majority of them, given what he was, it wasn't much trouble. The only real trouble he had now was keeping up with Nightmare Moon and leaving his robe undamaged. As he trotted through the forest, moving underneath tree branches, his hood got caught on one of them, causing it to be pulled back. This revealed not only the deep ocean blue coat he had, but his long silver mane. What attracted attention the most however, was sticking from his forehead, a unicorn horn. This along with his wings signified his Alicorn status, which was something he kept hidden quite often with his hood rather than magic. When the hood was pulled back by a branch he had failed to notice, the alicorn immediately felt it with his hoof, checking for any damages before sighing.

'This is my favorite robe too.' he thought, before shaking his head, continuing his trek through the forest needlessly. It didn't take him a long time to figure out where Nightmare Moon was heading either, the only place she could be heading to in this forest. The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, the one that he recalled once held the Elements of Harmony. He could just as easily fly to the location, but he wanted to avoid being spotted or sensed by her, this is where the trouble rested. On foot, he was rather hopeless, tripping over tree roots and getting smacked over the head by branches, neither of this was rather pleasant, leaving a few scratches on his face as well as his body. As the castle came into view he let out a sigh, before cursing his luck with a few foul words. Once he noticed the bridge was out, he could only sigh, before finally extending his wings to flutter on over the canyon. He landed elegantly just outside the castle before pushing himself up against the wall.

"Alright soldiers, you know the plan." Nightmare Moon said as she reviewed her small battalion of shadow unicorns. As the alicorn came into view of them, his eyes went wide. Few could create soulless figures, let alone give them a more pony-like appearance.

'She's gotten stronger since I last faced her...' he thought, just peering in through the crack in the door. While there were few of them, he began to grow worried, these ones looked stronger than the one he had seen flying toward Canterlot earlier today. Was the last one simply an experiment? Was it just the form she had chosen? It left quite a bit to curiosity, but he did know one thing: he had to do something. While normally he'd stand by and just let others handle it, even he could see that Equestria was in danger. His eyes shifted across the room, he only counted ten, minus Nightmare Moon, before he zoned in on the shadow ponies for a bit of closer observation. It was here he noticed that not all were unicorns, he spotted a couple pegasi among them, while they were few it concerned him.

After a couple of moments passed, Nightmare Moon trotted away, the soldiers left standing in silence for several seconds before trotting to the door. He panicked here, shifting his position from standing in front of the door, to standing against the wall silently. As the group trotted out he readied himself, aiming his horn at the first of the pegasi. The instant it walked through the door he unleashed a blast of silvery energy, which struck the soldier, causing it to vanish in a puff of smoke. This caught the remainder of their attention in seconds, the remaining nine charged at him, the other three pegasi taking flight on top of that. The alicorn's expression changed as this occurred.

"Monkey feathers..." he cursed, as a blast of magic came his way. With little time to react, all he could do was endure the strike. Searing hot pain shot through every inch of his body as he endured the blast, however he remained silent through the pain, a smirk spreading across his face. "Is that the best you got?" he taunted, unleashing another blast, this time at the unicorn that had attacked him before he extended his wings. When he did he was met with the harsh kick of a pegasus to the left side of his face. This sent him crashing into the stone wall of the castle, cringing in even more pain as he collected himself. With his hoof, he wiped the bit of blood from his mouth before his attention shifted once again, this time on the pegasus that had kicked him, firing another blast of that exact same spell. Unfortunately for him though, the pegasus was able to simply swerve around the blast with relative ease. With this serving as a distraction though, he extended his wings, using them as a speed boost to charge at the pegasus, instead striking it with his horn. As this occurred, his horn began to glow, causing the pegasus to wail loudly before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The unicorns however wasted little time, gathering a bit of magic before attempting to blast him with it. He only smirked at the attempt as he spiraled around, bringing up a barrier before him, this deflected the blasts, sending them flying in all directions, leaving a few scorch marks where they landed. He followed up from this spell with a shockwave spell, combining it with the spell he had used before. While this weakened both spells significantly, it was still strong enough to destabilize the shadow ponies, causing them to wail loudly as they vanished.

"I never knew you could perform combination spells." a voice said from behind him. His eyes went wide the moment he heard it, before he slowly turned around. "But then again, few know what you know."

"What is your plan, Nightmare Moon?" he asked, stomping his hoof on the ground.

"Why should I tell you?" she asked, "Even if I did though, you still couldn't stop me alone...your power couldn't last time we met." he lowered his head as she said this, it had been true too, he was sure the spell he had used last time would've ended her, but it appears as though he was wrong. "I must admit though...the spell you used really did take its toll...I had to reform my body after it..."

"How did you survive it though?" he questioned. "That spell should've...!"

"In truth, it actually did finish me off, or at least, it finished my body off." she said, matter-of-factly.

"Then how...?!" once again she cut him off with a cackle.

"You foal...I'm not complete." she explained, slowly approaching the alicorn. "My body need not exist for me to live on in my present state...no matter how many times you destroy it, I will return, stronger than before." As she approached him, he found himself rather entranced by her movements, she seemed to sway very lightly as she drew closer, almost as if she was trying to seduce him. It was proving to work too, as a bit of drool began to move down from his mouth. His silvery-golden eyes began to grow pale as he gazed into hers, his head now swaying slightly with her body's movements. "I have something for you too..."

"And that is?" he asked, as she brought her hoof up to his cheek.

"Join me...and I'll crown you my king." she cooed, the tone of her voice becoming more seductive by the second. As he listened to it, he began to fall under what seemed like a spell, not just her seductive appearance, but her voice as well. Before he could give her a response though, the wind began to pick up, leaves began to swirl around the two of them, and to the male alicorn he could hear whispers on the wind. These whispers brought him back to his senses immediately, the color returning to his eyes in a matter of seconds.

"I'd rather die than be your king." he replied rudely. Nightmare Moon took this offensively as she tried to strike him with her hoof, but by then it was too late, in what seemed like less than a second he had vanished in a shower of sparkles, tapping her shoulder in a teasing manner. "Catch me if you can." he remarked, before he vanished again. The dark princess let out a scream in anger and frustration before stomping back inside her castle. The alicorn, by this time had already taken back to the skies, this time flying in the direction of Ponyville with a serious look on his face.

'Thank you...mother...'

At first, the day had started off rather calmly with a book before the fireplace and some hot cocoa. That was until she received the letter that threw her into a bit of a tizzy. It began at about one o'clock in the afternoon, just as she was about halfway though with the book when she heard the familiar sound of her number one assistance's belch. The young dragon brought her the raveled up letter as quickly as he could, making it seem like it was important. First she thought that it was a new assignment from Princess Celestia, the content of the letter though was what brought concern to her.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I apologize for the very short notice, however, my sister and her personal bodyguard are on their way. They wish that you keep this visit as secretive as possible as to avoid trouble, meet them at the train station, they will explain the rest." As she read the letter, her eyes went wide. Why would Princess Luna visit her? Who was this bodyguard that was mentioned in the letter? Why were they coming by train and not taking the royal carriage? She had to make a double take on the letter, re-reading it for maximum clarity. It only proved to answer one of her questions, but this answer only raised more. Why did they want to keep it a secret?

"Spike!" Twilight shouted, becoming a bit more frantic. Perhaps Luna wanted to perform a surprise inspection of the library, maybe even the town! She gulped at the prospect as the purple dragon stood at the ready. "Princess Luna is on her way...and we have to be ready for anything, get my checklist and clipboard!"

Over the course of the next few hours, the duo spent their time organizing the entire library. First they started with the bookshelves, Twilight was sure to make every single shelf neat and tidy, at the same time, Spike was sure to keep the checklist as they went through. They were lucky it was a quiet day in the library too, otherwise they would never get done with the list. After fixing the shelves, dusting began, this proved to be the most tedious part of the whole day, by the time they had finished, the clock read four-fifteen. This made her nervous as she reached the next point on the checklist, making up the guest bed for them. She figured right off the bat that Luna would be the one sleeping in the bed, while her bodyguard would go elsewhere, this only took a good fifteen minutes to ensure the bed was perfect, before she moved on.

As time continued to tick onward, Spike eventually went off to bed while Twilight found herself still cleaning up and ensuring everything was perfect for the princess. She had become so focused though, that on several occasions it had disturbed the dragon, who awoke with a yawn each time. After about Eight though, he finally snapped, walking downstairs.

"Twilight, shouldn't you be getting ready to meet them at the train station?" he yawned, this snapped her to her senses immediately, before getting on her winter wear and dashing out to the station. Twilight found herself reaching the station just as the train was pulling in. She fought hard to catch her breath for a moment as she awaited the two to walk off the train.

Crowds of ponies, all in a chatter as they tried to organize themselves from the chaos of the train. There were too many to count as they disembarked, her violet eyes tried their hardest to make out the princess amongst the crowd to no avail, her nerves growing to their limit as she continued to search. It was several minutes before the crowds finally thinned down, some ponies climbing onto the train as things calmed down.

"Where could they be?" she asked herself as she tapped her hoof impatiently. At the end of the crowds she saw two hooded figures just making their way off of the train, as they disembarked a smile moved across her face. It quickly died however when she saw Princess Luna leaning against another cloaked figure she figured to be her bodyguard. While both of them had their hoods up, she could recognize the princess' tail anywhere, even though she had only met her once before a couple months back.

"We're off the train now Luna." he whispered as he began to guide her.

"Princess!" came a shout from Twilight as she dashed up to them. She grew concerned as she took notice of Luna's rather weak demeanor, as well as the fact that her bodyguard was holding up most of her weight instead of letting her walk by herself.

"Twilight Sparkle, I assume?" the bodyguard asked, finally lowering his hood to reveal he was a unicorn to Twilight. She nodded first, before her gaze shifted back to the princess.

"What happened to her?" she questioned, as Emerald began to walk her off the platform.

"The train didn't really agree with her." he replied, giving a gesture for her to help walk the princess. She complied relatively quickly, the two now holding her up. "Thankfully its just a bit of motion sickness, she'll be fine in a few hours...although she'll probably need a bit of food and rest considering she did throw up on the train."

"She did?!" To say the least, Twilight was rather astonished to hear this, in her time as Celestia's apprentice, she had never seen her mentor sick, and considering they were goddesses, she didn't even think they could get sick.

"Yes, she did, unfortunately...thankfully it only happened once though...after that, I was able to help her relax, and make her feel comfortable the rest of the trip." he explained, "But it just goes to show, even gods and goddesses aren't perfect." This seemed relatively good logic to Twilight, a bit of wisdom she'd for sure have to write down once they had gotten to her place.

"Its...good to see you again, Twilight Sparkle." Luna finally said, her voice rather raspy though. She soon turned to Emerald with a smile on her face. "I think I can handle the rest of the way myself." With this, she leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, which only proved to make him blush a tiny bit, as if saying not in front of anyone. Twilight seemed to grow rather curious from this action, taking a few steps ahead now as the princess had indicated she could walk on her own. She did this intentionally as so she could lead the two through the silent, snow covered streets of Ponyville faster. The princess continued to lean on the unicorn a tiny bit, remaining close to him. It continued to baffle her as she watched it unfold. She could clearly tell he cared about the princess, but how deep did it run? Wasn't he her bodyguard? If so, why did she just give him a kiss on the cheek? Why were they even in Ponyville and why did they want to see her?

"What brings you both to Ponyville on such short notice?" she questioned, guiding the two through the town, her home just coming into view.

"Didn't Celestia tell you in her letter?" Emerald asked in return, both him and Luna seeming to be a bit annoyed with this factor. Twilight too seemed a bit annoyed with the lack of his formality, but she brushed it aside relatively quickly.

"Princess Celestia only informed me that you were on your way...she didn't give a reason." came her response, to his dismay.

"I'll explain once we get inside...and Luna can get some rest." The door slowly opened as they reached it, surrounded by Twilight's aura. The princess entered first on Emerald's request, followed by Twilight and finally himself.

The stallion's first order of business was to guide the princess up the stairs very carefully, sure to keep her steady as she climbed, guiding her into the bed. She flopped down informally, exhausted from the trip and still rather weak from getting sick. He first removed her cloak, gently setting it over the bed post, before pulling the covers over the princess.

"Rest and get well." he whispered, before he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Leaving her be for the time being.

"So, why are you here?" Twilight asked him as his hooves clicked down the stairs. He closed his eyes very slowly, showing his very calm demeanor to her. "And who are you?"

"My name is Emerald Crescent...and my family was hired generations ago to act as guardians of the royal family...Luna and I are here seeking help with an issue we have." Twilight slowly approached him as he took a seat. She could swear she had heard his name before, taking a closer look at the stallion, inspecting him very carefully. It took her a few minutes before it finally hit her, where she had heard his name before. This thought excited her instantly, letting out a bit of a squeal in delight. Emerald was unfazed by this, as he had seen it countless times before.

"So YOU'RE Emerald Crescent!" she nearly shouted, growing a bit more excited. "Your books are simply wonderful! I've read every single one of them!" His cheeks seemed to flush as this was said right in his face, causing him to lean back a tiny bit.

"I'm flattered...but...that's irrelevant now..." he replied calmly.

"Could you please sign my copies?" He could only sigh in response to this, the redness of his cheeks only growing a bit brighter.

"...I will later..." He began to grow nervous, die hard fans were always a bit of trouble for him, hindering his missions just a tiny bit. He hoped deep down that this was all she wanted, rather than asking him to do something ludicrous or outrageous like the other fans had made him do. Twilight giggled upon his response, ecstatic at the prospect of getting her books signed by the actual author. "But as for why we're here." This snapped the mare back to reality rather quickly, jumping out of her daze.

"In as much detail as you can spare, if you will." she noted, only receiving a nod from him.

"Do you want the full story, the one I told Celestia?" he asked. "Or would you like the short version?"

"Full story please...I want to see how you tell stories with your voice." This remark only made him blush again, causing him to shake his head.

"This story begins ages ago...around the time when Celestia and Luna's parents were still in Canterlot..." he began. "Back then, everything was peaceful, soon though, Starswirl the Bearded, the court wizard, and most trusted advisor informed them of a dream he had...one that took place in the distant future." As the story began, Twilight felt a shiver up her spine, excited by the tone of his voice as he told the story. "Which, would be considered about this time and this year...he foresaw Nightmare Moon rising to power, not only slaughtering many, but even the King and Queen." Horror overtook her when she heard this, her eyes going wide in fear.

"T-the king and queen? Slaughtered?" she asked. "I-I thought they were stronger than Nightmare Moon! And I thought Nightmare Moon was gone!"

"She's not...unfortunately." he pointed out.

"But the...!"

"The Elements of Harmony are powerful indeed, however, they only proved to purify Luna...and separate her from her darkness, they lacked the power to completely vanquish her..." To say the least, her jaw dropped in utter horror, yet, she quickly recovered, more questions popping up.

"Where does your family come in?" she asked.

"I was just getting to that part...In fear of the vision...the king and queen hired one of my ancestors, on my mother's side...they hired us for a particular reason too, because of the magic select members such as myself can use." He paused for a moment, giving her time to let this sink in before he resumed. "The magic is that of the land...we hold the power to control plant life, its a very rare and ancient magic passed down through the family...I'm the only one of my brothers that can use it though." The mare went silent as she listened in, horror and dread in her eyes. She gazed downward at the floor as the room went silent.

"B-but, what can I do?" she questioned, breaking the silence.

"Help us find a way to defeat her, once and for all."


	11. Reunion

Chapter 11

It felt like a hangover to her, yet at the same time it didn't. She only recalled drinking a few things the day before, none of them containing any alcoholic content, at least to her knowledge. Yet she found herself waking up with quite the splitting headache, followed by a groan of dismay. Luna yawned as she stretched her limbs out before clutching her head in pain, groaning a second time since she had woken up. She remembered little from the past few hours, so it rose questions for her as to why she was in a strange bed. The princess' gaze shifted from right to left as her drowsiness wore off, taking a look around her. It took a few minutes before it finally hit her though on where she was, it had only been after she heard two voices did everything come flooding back to her. She remembered the train ride, the loss of her lunch, and the walk to Twilight Sparkle's home.

"I'm never going to ride that train again..." she muttered to herself, before climbing from the bed to stretch her legs and wings a bit further. As she was stretching she took note of the fact it was nighttime. Luna could hear voices coming from downstairs as she stretched out her stiff muscles, this caused her to stop what she had been doing, especially when she heard Emerald's voice. Here she began to move relatively quietly, looking just over the loft area where she had been resting, to the downstairs area. As she did the sight she came on left her feeling a bit upset. What got to her the most was how close Twilight was to the stallion, it almost made her jealous, but when she moved back to her original position she sighed in relief. Aside from her issues with her sister over a millennium ago, she had never felt more jealous than she had a few seconds ago. The princess didn't even understand why either, but eventually she brushed it aside as nothing had happened.

As the two continued their conversation, she made her way to the stairs and even though she could probably just flutter down. Luna decided against this however, for all she knew, they could already be devising a way to end the threat of Nightmare Moon. She couldn't of been more wrong though, because just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard the line she didn't want to hear from Emerald.

"Help us find a way to defeat her, once and for all."

"What have you both been talking about while I was out?" Luna asked, as her hooves clicked on the ground. Emerald was the first to dash over to her, showing his concern for the princess. This made her smile a bit, before brushing it aside as Twilight followed him just as quickly.

"Well, Emerald filled me in on everything so far." Twilight responded.

"But, I believe the first question is, how are you feeling?" Emerald questioned, she licked her lips in response, which felt rather dry, as well as her mouth had a relatively unpleasant taste in it. She recalled that she had thrown up on the train, but was surprised that it would linger so long in her mouth. It was almost enough to make her gag a little bit, thankfully though it was easy enough to ignore.

"I could use a little bit of water, and something to eat to get rid of the horrid taste in my mouth." she said a bit hoarsely, before clearing her throat. In response to this, Twilight nodded before walking off, only to return with a glass of water for the princess, who was rather grateful, offering her a smile as she took it. The water rushed through her mouth as she drank it slowly, being sure not to upset her stomach anymore than the train had. Once the glass had been emptied, she set it aside on a desk for the time being, the awful taste having been washed away along with the diminishing of her pounding headache. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." This was followed by the growling of her stomach, the emptiness gnawing at her a bit, reminding her once again that she had lost the meal she ate before getting on the train. This proved rather frustrating before she turned to Emerald. By now, he had already heard her stomach growling a tiny bit, and was already aware that she was probably starving, which wasn't good for her in the least. Without a single word he nodded.

"Twilight, are there any shops or restaurants open at this hour?" This caused Twilight to turn her head up to the clock, which read just past nine, before turning back to them.

"The general store might still be open, and there should be a few restaurants still open." she responded, this was met with a pleased reaction from both Princess Luna and Twilight. "Think you could also get me something too?" He only nodded as he brought up his hood, quietly walking from the library.

The night was frigid, the streets were nearly silent, snow drifting in the occasional breeze. It was painful on his body as he walked out with very little, however it was the cold was rather tolerable for Emerald as he had faced worse in his travels. Aside from the lights on the street, the town was mostly dark, windows of various shops could hardly be seen through as he traversed through the shallow snow of the streets. The silence was deafening as he searched for an open shop or restaurant, he was met with little luck however, as there were fewer ponies outside than he had hoped for, it was only made worse when he felt a rumbling in his own stomach too. He sighed in frustration as he wandered, before long though he picked up on the sweet scent of food, this only increased his appetite, causing him to follow the scent as quickly as he possibly could, while remaining focused on his goal. The stallion soon came upon a small restaurant, it wasn't that fancy of a place, but it did look rather nice and the luscious aroma of food only proved to make him hungrier. He soon entered the place, finding it to have the décor of at least a four-star restaurant, yet it seemed rather cozy at the same time, almost as if it was family owned.

"May I help you sir?" asked a pony behind a stand, Emerald lowered his hood as he approached the pony.

"Well, I don't know how much time I have, so is it-" He was cut short however, by the sound of two voices catching his attention. Normally he would ignore such things, but what really got him was the sound of one of the voices, it felt rather familiar to him, almost as if he recognized it from somewhere, as if he had met the individual before. "Could you hold on a second?" Emerald noted to the stallion, who simply nodded. "And do you mind if I went in?"

"No, go right ahead sir, I'll have the waiter set up a table for you." he said, his voice still sounding rather regal.

"Thank you." Emerald replied, still listening to the sound of both voices. His ears twitched as he continued to listen rather closely, noting that one voice was that of a mare, while the other was one of a stallion. The mare's voice began to grow rather loud, while the stallion's voice remained semi-quiet and very silvery.

"I said no!" the mare shouted, the volume of her voice growing as she became more annoyed.

"Why not?" argued the stallion, as if trying to start something.

"Because, I am here with my husband, for one!" the mare claimed, "And for another, I don't like you!"

"Oh come on, its my birthday!" he cooed in his silvery voice, Emerald picked up instantly that this was a lie, before beginning to count down, as if he was anticipating something as he began to push open the door.

"Three, two..." before he could finish though, he heard a rather loud smack as if someone had just been struck across their face with a hoof, it was followed by an 'Ow!' along with a bit of whimpering. As the unicorn stallion entered the dining area though, he was met with a sight, one that made his eyes grow as wide as saucers. What he saw was no less than shocking as he was met with what appeared to be a dark blue unicorn stallion with a long, silky, silvery mane that seemed to shimmer even in the dim lights of the restaurant. Emerald seemed to know better as he laid his eyes on this individual, his eyes only narrowed in dismay as he looked at him, before beginning his approach.

"Silver Crescent!" he bellowed as he crossed the room, his voice filled with anger and frustration. The moment the name was heard by the supposed unicorn stallion, he seemed to freeze, recognizing it in an instant. The blood drained from his face as he turned to see Emerald, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

"E-Emerald?!" Before he could say anything further, Emerald had brought up his hoof to strike Silver right on the chin. It made a direct hit, sending him falling back onto the ground writhing in a bit of pain. He quickly moved back to his feet as he was faced with the unicorn, his eyes growing just as pale as his face had become. The nearby mare was fairly confused as she witnessed the green unicorn taking ahold of the other's mane with his magic, before pulling him to the table the waiter was just finishing his preparations on. "W-what are you doing in Ponyville?! I thought you were in Manehatten!"

"You heard wrong, brother." Emerald muttered, forcing him to take a seat on a side of the table, as he himself took the opposite side. "I believe the question is...what are YOU doing in Ponyville?" the unicorn seemed extremely frustrated with his elder brother at this point, who was just quiet and rather nervous about having to see his little brother.

"I...uh...was seeking a bit of help." he muttered.

"Oh? Doing what?" Emerald speculated, "Trying to ruin a marriage? Or trying to get your rocks off after having done as such with Princess Celestia!?" By this time, the green unicorn was fuming, it was obvious by the tone of his voice, which thankfully was rather hushed. This seemed to leave Silver feeling rather guilty, looking away from his brother. It was here he snapped back to his senses, slamming his hoof on the table, before he brought his eyes to meet him.

"Actually, if you must know, I was seeking help in trying to find a way to beat Nightmare Moon." he claimed, this caused Emerald's eyes to widen a bit before he sighed softly. "However, I got...distracted as I came into town..." as he spoke up, his head turned to a passing waitress, taking in the view of her plot, which made him lick his lips. "So...many glorious plots and flanks..."

"Focus!" his brother shouted, tapping the table with his own hoof. This grabbed his attention again, turning back to his brother. "So, you've had a run-in with Nightmare Moon I take it."

"Two actually, one about two months ago, and one just today." Emerald sneezed again as he heard this, which made Silver chuckle very softly. "Still have those sneezes of surprise?"

"And she survived?!" he exclaimed, receiving a nod from him.

"Unfortunately yes, the spell I used when I met her the first time, failed to actually eliminate her completely, however, it did prove to weaken her to the point where she was left without a body." he explained.

"That explains why I haven't seen much of her either..." Emerald noted.

"You faced her too?" the unicorn nodded in response to this.

"Probably just before you did...if you didn't know, I'm now Princess Luna's personal bodyguard." Silver chuckled, a rather unnerving grin, one very similar to Celestia's spreading across his face.

"So, you're the unicorn stallion I've heard rumors about that's seeing the Lunar Princess." he announced, rather loudly too, enough for the entire restaurant to hear. This only made Emerald sink his head rather low to hide his embarrassment. While he wasn't ashamed to admit anything, he'd rather not have the public know about it. This seemed to get the attention of several ponies for a minute or two, however, they quickly returned to their meals.

"Sirs, what would you like this fine evening?" the waiter asked, holding up a notepad and quill with his magic.

"Nothing for me thanks." Silver said.

"Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to go, and just some tea, herbal if you will." Emerald said, gesturing calmly to the waiter. "I'm only here to get something to eat for a couple friends."

"Now, back on subject, you never really answered my question...what brings YOU to Ponyville, if you're supposed to be guarding Princess Luna." the alicorn noted.

"Well...Luna and I were in need of help...we're also seeking a way to defeat Nightmare Moon for good." the unicorn pointed out.

"But why Ponyville, I mean, there's not really a whole lot here." Silver informed, only to be stopped by his brother.

"Actually, you're inaccurate...there is one pony here, correction, one unicorn here who can help us." Emerald refuted, at first the alicorn seemed rather confused with this line of thought, but that was before the realization sunk in.

"Don't tell me...Celestia's student lives in this town...does she?" This only received a nod and a chuckle as a cup of tea was placed on the table near the unicorn. The cup was rather small, but he sipped it rather quickly, just letting it sit as a bag was brought to him containing the sandwiches he had ordered.

"That'll be ten bits for all of it." the waiter said, which prompted Emerald to pull out a small bag of money with his telekinesis, counting out ten bits, plus an additional ten as a tip for the waiter. "Thank you, and have a nice evening."

"Now, you're coming with me, Silver." he remarked, a bit of a grin moving across his face. "We could use all the help we can get." Silver gulped with a rather fearful look on his face, mostly terrified of his little brother, but also the prospect of meeting both Celestia's student, which he had heard quite a bit about when he was seeing Celestia and meeting the Lunar princess left him feeling rather shaky.

Silver didn't know what was worse at this point, being pulled away from every single mare by his little brother, or being dragged through Ponyville by his mane. This was one thing that upset him rather greatly as he had no other choice. It wasn't the simple fact that he was being dragged along for something that he'd willingly do, it was more of the fact that he was being dragged along by his mane, something he had spent years taking care of as it was the only thing that reminded him of their mother. Thankfully for him the trip was relatively short, and it hadn't caused very much damage to his mane, the only thing that had been hurt was his pride as his own silvery aura enveloped his mane to correct the damage that Emerald's had caused.

"You know, you didn't have to be so rough." Silver whined, with a bit of a frown on his face.

"Do you want cheese with that whine?" Emerald scoffed as he opened the door to the library, by this time, both Luna and Twilight had started going through several books, being sure to mark where they were in it. When the two walked through the door however, everything seemed to change rather drastically. Both ponies' jaws seemed to drop as they laid their eyes on Silver. Twilight dashed over to him in an instant, mystified by his long, silvery mane. At first she almost mistook the stallion for a mare because of how long his mane was, but upon closer inspection she noticed how well toned his body appeared. It was a curiosity to her how he had such a glorious mane, not only that, how he also had such a toned body. Luna on the other hand seemed a bit more rational, whether it was her feelings for the unicorn stallion, or it was the fact that she was a goddess, she was able to immediately tell what he was as she trotted closer.

"Not often do I see another alicorn outside the royal bloodline." the princess stated, as she looked upon him a bit more closely. "You must be Silver Crescent, Emerald's eldest brother." For the third time tonight, Silver was caught off guard by something, making him rather confused. The first was meeting his brother at a restaurant, the second was finding out that they were in Ponyville for the same reason, and the third was the fact that Princess Luna seemed to know him.

"How do you-" she cut him off however, with a simple gesture.

"Emerald told me all about you...along with my sister too, as you and her got to know each other on a more...personal level." For the first time in quite a while, Silver seemed rather embarrassed at the fact that everyone now knew about his relationship with Celestia, it was almost insulting to him.

"You mean...you and Princess Celestia were...?" Twilight began, only to have him nod slowly.

"Yes...we were...but neither of us could maintain the relationship, so I broke it off." he confirmed.

"Now...I have a question for you, Silver." Luna began, once again getting the male alicorn's attention as he began to remove the monk's robe he was wearing to reveal his deep blue coat as well as his cutie mark, which was a bit similar to Emerald's, the only differences consisted of the fact that he had an ancient scroll crossing through his crescent, which was a silvery color, matching the color of his mane.

"And that is?"

"How do I compare to my sister in terms of beauty?" Luna asked, while normally she didn't care, as he had been with her sister, it might prove beneficial to her to actually know who's the better looking sister. Silver grew rather silent after she had asked this, walking past both his brother and Twilight to circle the princess, taking in every detail of her beauty.

"Your mane and tail...I like it more than I like your sister's...however I do think your sister has a nicer flank than you do." This prompted Luna to immediately reach around and smack him right across the face with her hoof, harder than the mare in the restaurant had, it was enough to send him to the ground rather hard too, but not hard enough to render him unconscious. "What was that for?!" he roared.

"For staring at my flank." she remarked jokingly. Emerald erupted into a bout of laughter after she had said this. In the time he had know his brother, he had seen him get smacked various times, and get shut down even more times than that, and while he knew that Silver was rather successful at what he did, he had never seen anyone pull something like this on him, it looked almost as if she had planned this, just to teach him a lesson. Twilight however wasn't that amused with Luna's actions, instead going over to comfort him.

"I'm sorry that she did that." Twilight whispered, not wanting them to hear her.

"Its fine, I'm used to being smacked like that." he noted. "Celestia even smacked me for some of the things I said..."

"Now, onto more serious matters..." Luna said, "Where is our food?"

As Emerald's laughter began to die down, he held up the bag that the sandwiches were in, the princess calmly took it, to remove her own first, leaving the bag on a desk nearby for Twilight when she decided she wanted it.

"Care to join me on the balcony, Emerald?" she asked sweetly.

"Gladly."


	12. A Little Push

Chapter 12

Emerald couldn't help but watch as Luna began to walk up the stairs, while she could simply fly up them, she found it more enjoyable to walk up this time. As she trotted, the green unicorn watched every single one of her movements as he himself followed her up the stairs. His eyes traced around her slender figure as he followed her, almost drooling at this point, before becoming entranced by her tail. It took him several seconds to regain his composure as she stopped in her tracks, having reached the balcony of the library. The sudden stop almost caused him to crash right into the princess, which would've been relatively humiliating for him, especially considering his eldest brother was watching everything transpire before him with a smile. He took a seat to the left of the princess as she began to eat quietly, her eyes gazing off into the distance.

"Even when you're not feeling well, you still are able to do some of the most beautiful of works." he commented, as he gazed up at the stars. This made her smile, while as of late she did receive quite a few compliments on her nights, but this was the first time she had to perform her duties while under the weather a tiny bit. The compliment itself simply made her lean in to place a soft kiss on the green unicorn's cheek, to which he simply blushed in response.

"Since my return, you've been the sweetest and most caring unicorn I've ever met, Emerald." she whispered, inching a tiny bit closer to him, a blush of her own beginning to spread across her cheeks. By this time, her hunger had also caused her to finish off the sandwich that was given to her not that long ago. The relatively close proximity between him and Luna caused Emerald's heart to begin racing relatively quickly, it only got worse as she got closer to him, his heart pounding in his chest. He inhaled and exhaled in attempts to calm himself, but to little avail as she rested her head on his shoulder. Normally he wouldn't feel quite like this around any other mare he had known in his life.

Princess Luna could say she was in the same boat, however she hadn't been with a stallion in her life, so it made things even more complicated for her as she felt her own heart pounding in her chest. It was nerve wracking for her as she rested her head against his shoulder, a multitude of thoughts cycling through her head. First she thought what life would be like once Nightmare Moon was dealt with, what would happen to her and Emerald then? Would he stay, or would he return to his old life? Did he feel the same way that she did about him? What were these feelings she had for him? Was it love that she felt? These thoughts only seemed to increase her mental tension and the pounding in her chest, by this time she felt as though her heart was about to leap from it.

Emerald could feel Luna shaking a tiny bit as she rested her head on his shoulder. He wondered if the cold was getting to her already, or if it was something else that was bothering her. He soon inched a bit closer to her, using a touch of telekinesis to bring his cloak around her in attempts to end the shivering he felt from her. This only made her smile grow wider as she found more comfort and warmth in him, even though it didn't help either of them relax a tiny bit.

"Princess..." He began, slowly turning to her. Before he could speak though, she placed the very tip of her hoof on his mouth, cutting him off from talking at all. What happened next however, came as a bit of a surprise, it seemed as though the moments before were nothing but a blur, almost like they had been pushed. Their lips met in passion, neither knew who had initiated this kiss, but it felt different than the other two before it. At first, Luna wanted to pull away, but found herself entranced by the warm contact. This only caused her wings to fluff outward as she found herself enjoying it. Emerald himself also wanted to pull away, but he found himself intoxicated by the sweet taste of the jelly from the sandwich she had eaten earlier, it only proved to egg him on in deepening the kiss. After a few seconds, the enticing flavor of the jelly had vanished, yet he found himself still entranced by her sweet and succulent lips. The kiss also seemed to work well for the two as they found the passion deepening to the point where they had begun fighting each other for their standing ground. It was lucky that the snow had been cleared from the balcony as well, as it would've only gotten in their way.

The kiss only broke for a few seconds, giving the two a chance to catch their breath before resuming. She soon brought her hooves up, resting them on his shoulders as he wrapped his around her waist. She pushed against him as a response to this, their bodies now radiating heat from the passion. Before long, Emerald found himself being pushed up against the section of wall splitting the balcony railing and the entryway. This was unexpected for him as he hadn't expected her to be this forceful of a kisser, none the less though, he loved it deeply. Luna found she couldn't really help herself, giving in very easily to her desires for the unicorn stallion. The touch of his hooves against her body, his muscles, even his wonderfully inviting lips. Another few seconds passed as they remained locked in passion, before finally pulling away to catch their breath again.

"I...had no idea..." he muttered under his breath, his mind now swimming from the kiss.

"Of what?" Luna winked playfully.

"That...you were such a...forceful kisser." he cooed, kissing her softly on the forehead near her horn. "And I like it..." The princess' cheeks flushed as he spoke, flattered by his sweet words, while her heart fluttered from the kiss. Both ponies by this time had calmed down significantly, the tension having been defused between them, instead, they were excited for another reason, one that became apparent as they once again met in passion. This time however, was different, as Emerald took a bit of control at this point, his tongue begged for entry into her mouth, which proved to be a new experience for Luna as she felt his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth. This sensation, while new, was rather delightful for her, as she soon found her own tongue exploring his. In it, she could taste a bit of pie, probably because he ate it so often, or at least that's what she figured, pushing aside as many thoughts as she could, just to continue kissing the stallion. It wasn't much longer before their tongues entwined with each other, this could only send a pleasant chill up the princess' spine before she began to pull away again, by this time, both of them were breathing rather hard.

"Emerald...after Nightmare Moon is gone for good..." she began, taking a couple steps back in order to let him finally slide down the wall. "Would you stay with me?" To say the least, this left him rather shocked and curious as he moved closer to the princess with a smile on his face, gently placing another kiss on her lips.

"I'd gladly stay with you, Luna." he whispered, his voice was very soft and gentle at this point, as she kissed him back very softly, before gazing deep into his eyes. As he gazed back, he could see the delight in her eyes and in her smile as well, which seemed just as entrancing as her lips had been. The unicorn soon lowered his head just slightly, allowing his horn to cross with hers, which is another sensation that the princess seemed to enjoy, this one more enticing than even kissing. She simply closed her eyes to let it happen, the sensation of his horn touching hers could only send more chills up her spine even though her body was radiating with heat by this point. Reacting from the feelings that remained unspoken between the two, their horns began to charge, before shimmering in the light of the crescent waxing moon that was up in the sky.

From in the library, Silver had watched most of the events transpire along with Twilight, who seemed intrigued as she watched everything occur. Never in her life so far had she seen an act of such passion, but as a smirk spread across the deep blue alicorn's face, she instantly figured that he could've possibly had something to do with what she just witnessed. She paid little mind to it however, as her curiosity was once again sparked by what was transpiring again. The young unicorn wanted to make her way upstairs and ask them about it, but she was halted by the alicorn, first with his hoof in her way, then with a simple gesture of his head.

"Let them be." he whispered, "It would be rude to interrupt a blossoming couple." he assured this, before turning his attention back up to them. Twilight grew suspicious of his motives as he watched everything transpire, eventually, as the sparkles shot off from their horns, he turned away with a smile. "And thus, my work is done." The moment he said this, the unicorn grew rather suspicious of him.

"What did you do?" Twilight asked.

"I simply do what I always do...without words, I often bring those who have feelings for each other together." he claimed.

"But isn't-" Before she could ask this next question however, he placed his hoof to her mouth.

"Before you finish that question, allow me to elaborate." Silver commented. "You see, quite often, while I do seek out my fair share of some hot plots and flanks...I also quite often give those who have feelings for each other a push in the right direction...I merely just help things along." he explained, a sly grin on his face. "It was something I learned from my countless visits to Canterlot, a good friend of mine often helped quarreling couples, and often soothed frustration with her love based charms." This seemed to grab Twilight's attention faster than anyone ever had, as she recalled one individual who knew love charms that seemed to calm and help out couples.

"You know Cadence?" she questioned, "How long have you known her?"

"I've known her for quite a while, she often watched my brothers while I worked." Silver explained, "And she even helped me overcome a bit of heartbreak I went through when my marefriend broke up with me...it actually inspired me to do what I do now."

"Wow, really?" Twilight herself seemed to become entranced by his explanation, smiling the entire time, as it seemed like quite a small world to her.

"Yep, its not a glamourous life though...helping others realize their feelings for another...or break through that last obstacle as you saw just recently." he pointed out.

"What exactly DID you do to them?" she asked, only to receive a pat on the head, with a smile from the alicorn.

"I pushed them into the kiss." he remarked, chuckling softly. "I'm rather surprised you or they didn't sense or see it, especially surprised that my brother didn't." Twilight couldn't help but giggle at this, as she had never heard of someone ever doing this before. It also meant to her that he can recognize what love can be, which made her even more curious, making her want to ask more questions.

"How did you know they had feelings for each other? What's love feel like? How do you know when you, or someone else entirely is in love?" Silver only laughed a bit louder at her barrage of questions, as he took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Twilight, you are just like Celestia described, you have a very good head on your shoulders, and you will go far with your magic." he complimented, before taking another second to think again. "As for your questions...it was in their mannerisms, and the fact that I've been hearing rumors from Canterlot that they are seeing each other." he first pointed out, before clearing his throat. "Your second question is rather hard to describe, but, I can try, but first, to clarify, this is about love between two non-related ponies, right?" Twilight only nodded in response, eager to hear more. "Well, to best describe it, love is a feeling in your heart that goes beyond normal friendship, its the type of feeling where you care more about one pony than anything else in the world. Where you'd do anything for them, regardless of their faults, where you'll be there regardless of who they are, or how they are...love has no real logic behind it, so you must try to be logical with it, and give your heart out carefully."

As he began to speak, she used her magic to quickly find a notepad and a quill, jotting down nearly everything he was saying, as she hadn't heard it described like this. Above all though, she was intrigued by the amount of knowledge Silver may have, after all, he was an alicorn, which said to her that he might have some incredible abilities and knowledge. It was exciting to be around such a knowledgable individual too, perhaps she could even get the answers to a few questions she desired too. As she was writing down the notes, she began to think up more questions for him.

"Now, onto the third question you asked me...how is it I can tell?" Silver questioned, this made him rub his chin in thought for a moment, it was a tough question, that's when it hit him and a grin spread across his face. "Well, you see, I can tell someone's in love by how they react to questions related to whether they're in love, but if they haven't gotten past a certain point, like with those two." as he spoke, he gestured up to Emerald and Luna, who had resumed kissing by this time. "Often, feelings of love are reflected in somepony's eyes, as the eyes are often the windows to the heart and soul, it just takes the right type of pony to see it, which is something Cadence taught me how to do." Her next question seemed to come off the ball as she finished jotting down her notes on his words, before looking back up at him.

"What happened to your mother? And what was she like?" This question caught him off guard by quite a bit, making his eyes go wide, before he chuckled softly.

"Our mother...mine and Emerald's...she vanished a few months after Emerald was born, she's still alive, but nopony knows her whereabouts, I've tried tracking her, and searching for her...but there aren't even rumors of her anywhere...its like she became the wind." he explained. "And, our mother, she was a wonderfully kind unicorn, such a peaceful demeanor, and so beautiful too...which is part of the reason why she left, her beauty was a bit of a curse on her life, as she was often chased about by various suitors who wanted her either for her beauty, or because of our rare family magic." This seemed to perplex Twilight as she listened closely to her story, she could even hear the bit of sadness in his voice as he seemed to fight back tears, it showed just how much he really did care for his family, even if his other mannerisms didn't, and how much he missed his mother. It took Twilight only a matter of seconds before something else he said caught her attention. A rare family magic? She hadn't heard of such a thing before, except in the case of Celestia and Luna's family.

"Family magic?" she squeaked, trying her hardest not to upset him after the tiny bit of emotional display, to which he shook off relatively quickly.

"Well, I can assume that you haven't seen Emerald work his magic yet, but, our family has a closely guarded secret stash of extremely rare spells, that have been in our possession for generations, given to us by the King and Queen, as they feared it could be used irresponsibly." he explained. "Its a very powerful and unique magic, that allows us to manipulate the very land itself...our mother was the most talented with it in generations, she could make an entire forest spring up in a single day."

"An a-age spell?!" Twilight exclaimed. "And on that high of a level!" Silver only shook his head very slowly, once again chuckling.

"My dear Twilight, its not an age spell, but it is a very powerful magic, its a form of Green Magic that allows one to control the very plants of nature and even communicate with it, the magic, while it can allow rapid growth of plants, its not as good as letting them grow naturally, using this magic actually weakens the plants by a bit...and fruit doesn't taste as good when its grown using this either." Twilight could only nod as she continued to take notes, before looking back up at Silver again.

"So, both you and your brother know the magic?" she questioned further.

"No, only he knows it, he was the only one who inherited the family's spark for it." Silver pointed out, "And unfortunately, without a proper instructor who actually knows this magic, like mom, he won't ever completely master it."

"Interesting...very interesting..." the unicorn mumbled to herself as she continued to take more notes. Once she finished, she looked over it, rather satisfied with the information, before setting it aside.

"Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm actually going to head to bed...Just call me if anything happens." he stated, that was, until Twilight grabbed ahold of his mane with her own magical grip, and for the second time he was rather defeated as he didn't want to pull out a single strand of his mane. "Yes?"

"You can actually stay in my bed if you'd like...with me..." Her cheeks began to burn rather brightly as she spoke, obviously rather embarrassed about having to ask this. It only made him smile rather pleasantly in her direction, which only worked to darken her blushing. For the first time though, he felt instantly conflicted, unsure of what he should do, on one end, he was a bit older than she was, judging by her looks he could figure by at least a couple of years. Not only that, he was also afraid of actually hogging her bed and accidentally kicking her out. He closed his eyes, which was followed by a relatively loud sigh. Silver soon turned back up to where he thought Emerald and Luna were in attempts to figure out what he should do, however, it provided little answers as he only saw them kissing rather passionately again.

"I'm only a guest here, invited by my brother, Emerald...I don't want to impose." he finally forced out, his voice rather weak and nervous. "So, I'd...much rather just crash on a cloud." Twilight's heart dropped at this moment, and Silver could clearly see it, which broke his own heart. On top of that, she gave a second attempt at trying to get him into her bed, with a tactic that he simply hated, the lip. When she put that face on, everything changed and he caved with a sigh. "Alright, Twilight...I guess I can..." She only giggled with glee as she ran up to hug the alicorn tightly.

Nightmare Moon swore as she paced the floor of the chamber she had renovated in the ancient castle as her base. By this time the sun had indeed gone down and the moon had risen. Silver Crescent had given her quite a setback indeed as she tried to think of what she could do next. Even with all the power she had regathered over the past month and a half after she had been defeated by him, she had to be tactical. She kicked at a small stone that was near her hooves as she attempted to find a plan with no avail. After hours of pacing she finally huffed, before storming out of her chamber to clear her mind.

As she trotted through the empty castle, her own rage began to boil even further, which finally forced the dark alicorn to rush out of the castle to catch some of the fresh night air. As her base was in the Everfree Forest, it wasn't as cold, so she wouldn't have to really worry much about it, and instead focus on trying to think of something. At first she wanted to take to the air, but once again, her judgement got the better of her, figuring it might be best if she remained grounded.

As she thought to herself silently, a figure slowly approached her from behind, she sensed it in a flash, but paid little mind to it as she knew who it was. It was one of the shadow ponies that she had created not that long after Silver had left. Before long, she turned to the figure, her face showing a rather displeased look on it, that was until the shadow gestured for her to follow, which she of course complied. These shadows were her own personal creation, from an old spell that she had uncovered in one or two of the scrolls that she had found in this ancient castle. The scrolls were so old however, that they had been barely legible, and the paper very fragile, almost as if it had been decomposing very slowly. Thankfully though she was able to put together the right combination of words to re-create the spell that had been written in it. She later realized though that the spell had been lacking a few things, which prevented them from being complete, much like her. The shadow guided her back into the throne room, bringing her to a floating orb that it had apparently found not too long ago, an evil grin spread across her face the instant she saw it.

"Thank you, you may go now." she muttered, as she put her hooves around the floating orb, almost as if she knew it would be of a help to her. It only took Nightmare Moon a second to figure it out too, peering deep into the orb, as if she was seeing something she couldn't normally see. "So...you're at that filly's, eh Silver Crescent?" As thoughts began to come to mind of what she could do to get revenge on him for ruining her plans twice already. After this, she cast another spell, which changed what she was viewing to something else. What she saw only made her malicious grin widen. It was that of her light half enjoying a lip-lock with the unicorn that she had met before Silver Crescent, it was here though where a realization hit her, taking quick note of it her smile only grew darker and more twisted as even more ideas ran through her head. She quickly set aside the orb, before dashing off to her chamber, beginning to work on a new plan with this new information. With all her targets in Ponyville, everything just became so much easier.


	13. Face to Face

Chapter 13

Lack of control seemed to be the term as Luna had once again pinned Emerald against the wall while she kissed him passionately. Not that he seemed to mind this as he kissed back just as passionately. By this time, heat was rising from both ponies' bodies again as they continued to kiss, it felt like an eternity to the two of them as the stallion caressed her gently with one of his hooves, while she embraced him tight. Before long though, they seemed to pull apart from the kiss, once again relaxing as he slid back down on all four of his hooves. As he took a breath, he couldn't help but be entranced by her cyan eyes, in them he could see her past, one filled with quite a bit of struggle and pain, but joy as well, especially in the present moment. It took him a few minutes to regain himself, swimming in ecstasy from the passion and heat, as he regained himself, he trotted back to the princess' side where she rested her head on his shoulder as they gazed off into the night. The silence of the winter night was deafening, even in Ponyville as the two gazed off into the distance, seemingly both transfixed on the same thing.

"Emerald?" Luna whispered, trying not to disturb the peace of the night.

"Yes?"

"Have you...ever had a special somepony before?" she asked, "Or for that matter, ever been with anypony?" the unicorn stallion could only sigh very softly as a response to this, gazing downward just off the balcony to the snow-covered ground.

"I've been 'with' a few ponies." he claimed, his voice one of disappointment. "But, I've never had a special somepony...not until you." Luna's face seemed to light up as she heard this, snuggling in a tiny bit closer to him. "What about you?" Her face seemed to go red as he asked this question, but that only lasted for a second, before she began to think.

"Well, because of Nightmare Moon, I missed out on some of the more wonderful things in life." she explained, "But, before Nightmare Moon, I did have a few suitors chasing after me...while it was flattering, I always turned them down, I never really thought much about love anyway back then, but looking back...if I had found it then...perhaps everything would be different." a bit of shame appeared on Luna's face as she spoke about this, it seemed a bit agonizing as he could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. Before they could actually roll down her face though, he pulled her into a warm embrace, which brought her comfort.

"Hey, no need to cry now...I already told you this, its in the past...and you can't change what has happened..." he cooed, running his hoof down her back as he held her. She seemed to enjoy this too, as a quiet moan could be heard coming from her throat. "As Silver often said back when I was a foal...What is meant to be at the end of the day, is what will come to pass." This seemed to bring her out of the sadness, as she wrapped her own hooves around him, snuggling warmly into his chest to escape the cold of winter.

"Now, what did you mean when you said...'with a few ponies'?" she questioned, Emerald only sighed as a response to this question at first, as if he was trying to figure out the right words for what he should say to her. He was locked in deep thought for what seemed like forever, even though it was only a few minutes. By that time, the embrace had broken, and she was left gazing at him with curiosity.

"To be truthful...I slept with them." he finally replied, this came as a bit of a shock to Luna, although not too shocking as she took into account how his brother was. Before she could give a response to him though, he spoke up again. "However, it was often part of a job I was on, mostly to get information from someone in the easiest way possible, and it worked...although I do regret every single one of those evenings, so I usually drank quite a bit to put the memories out of my mind." She could see the shame in his eyes as he looked away from her, not a hint of embarrassment either, just shame alone. The princess didn't quite know what to think of this new information, except bring him comfort, pulling the stallion into another embrace.

"Its fine, Emerald, as you said...Its in the past." she snickered, teasing him a tiny bit with his own words. This only made him laugh a bit as he hugged her back. Truth was, she didn't really care what his past was, she only cared that he was here now. For how long would he be here though? Would he turn out to be the type of pony to leave her? Would he remain loyal? The princess didn't know where these thoughts had sprung up from, but a few of them were rather good questions, then came her biggest realization. It was one that made her eyes widen, and tighten her embrace on the unicorn, not wanting to let go at all. He felt this, but paid little mind to it at first, it wasn't until she looked back up at him did he realize what was running through her mind.

"What'll happen in the future...?" he muttered, realizing what the question meant deep down. Truth was, she was a goddess. She was immortal. He was a simple mortal unicorn and eventually age would beat him down mercilessly, he knew it too. They both knew it, and it was a heartbreaking thought to have run through their minds, especially after finally coming to terms with their own feelings for each other. Luna wanted to pull away as he spoke, but found that she didn't have the strength to do as such, his embrace only growing around her. While she enjoyed it and cared for him deeply, a part of her already wanted to distance itself from him to avoid the agony of what might be, yet, she found herself unable to as it seemed to bring her some comfort in her own thoughts. Before long, these thoughts slowly drifted from her mind as she rested her head against his chest, her eyes closing slowly as she remained there.

"The future isn't important..." Luna finally whispered, breaking the silence between the two. "Its now that's important." Slowly she pulled away again, looking back up into his eyes, once again unable to help herself, she leaned up to place a kiss on his lips. Emerald gladly complied, and while the kiss only lasted a few moments, after she had pulled away, she leaned up to whisper something in his ear. What she whispered made his entire face turn a very bright beet red, it was something he hadn't expected to hear, especially from a princess' mouth. It caused him to look around for a moment, taking a peek in through the balcony door, by this time both Silver and Twilight had fallen asleep, the alicorn taking the downstairs area while the purple unicorn remaining in her own bed. His reaction could only make her giggle very softly, as if she was teasing him. "Shy, are we?" she winked.

"N-no!" he replied, "Its just...what you said..."

"When we get back to Canterlot that is..." she cooed seductively, this only made his blushing worse, in truth he was actually nervous from what she had just whispered to him. Emerald took a deep breath, which helped him relax a bit as he once again stood beside the princess, watching over the night with her. The night was quiet as they watched it, keeping a keen eye and ear to listen for any trouble. It was a good thing Luna's senses were more refined compared to his, while he could sense things at great distances, he wouldn't of heard the faint struggling in the distance. The princess tapped his shoulder with her hoof, gesturing off to one of the houses a fair distance away. Once his attention shifted in that direction, he began to hear the distinct sounds of crying and struggling, as if someone was in trouble.

"You think she...?" Emerald began, before the princess nodded.

"Keep a watch on my body." she whispered to him, before falling into a trance almost immediately. He was able to catch and hold up her body as it went limp.

In a fraction of a second, Luna found herself standing within another pony's dreams, an ability she was all too familiar with. This ability was in fact one of her favorites, and one she commonly used to watch over the night in Equestria.

At first everything was dark, but soon her surroundings began to take shape and form. Trees sprang up almost instantly, the sky was darker than it usually should be over the Everfree Forest, however she paid little mind to it as her eyes shifted from right to left, lost in the brush of the trees. She could hear the howling of timberwolves in the distance, before slowly closing her eyes. Luna inhaled deeply before she extended her wings, bringing herself into the air to gain a better view of everything. What she saw didn't really strike her as odd at first, as she saw a young unicorn filly running through the trees, if this had been in the real world she might be a bit more worried, but it wasn't that bad. It wasn't until she took note of what was chasing the filly that her expression changed drastically. It ran along the ground silently, leaving behind no hoof prints, she could only make out the eyes, which were a very bright red in the darkness of the forest. Without a second guess, she dived down to the young filly, putting herself between the creature and its prey.

"Princess Luna!" the dreaming filly shouted, Luna only looked back with a smile before she pointed her horn at the creature. It paid little mind to the princess, continuing to charge at them, in response, the princess could only gather her own magic. The blast was a cobalt blue, lighting up the forest with a brilliant flash, which reduced the creature to nothing. This blast seemed to also have an effect on the surrounding area as well, turning it into what seemed to be Ponyville, only a little more empty than it typically was. "Thank you!" the filly said as she hugged the princess' leg.

"It is my job, I shall always be there for when you, or any of my subjects are in need during the night." she whispered.

"But, what was that?" the filly unicorn asked. "I've...never seen it in any books."

"That, is something you only see in your dreams, and it is for me to worry about." the lunar princess stated, "But, now, run along and enjoy your dream." With this, the young filly nodded, before the princess vanished entirely from it, returning back to her body on the balcony of the library. So she thought anyway, as she still found herself surrounded by the familiar blackness of the dreamscape, for whatever reason unable to find her way out. Before long the blackness vanished however as she found herself in a very long hallway filled with many doors. This was a sight she quite recognized from the past, it was one she often used to organize the dreams of the citizens of Equestria, as she found it easier than just listening in and observing every single pony across the land. On each door there stood a single colored marker, as part of her organization system it allowed her to figure out what types of dreams certain ponies were having and while she couldn't actually 'see' into the dreams while the doors were closed, it did provide her with insight as she trotted down the endless halls.

Most of what she saw pleased her deeply, as she shifted from left to right, gazing at the markers that existed on the doors. Most of these markers consisted of simple dark blue lines, which signified regular dreams, while on the other hand, occasionally she saw bright red markers, these ones she recalled were the ones she used to mark for nightmares as so it would get her attention. Along with each marker came a simple shape, signifying whether it had been a recurring dream or not, most of which weren't which was a relief to her. As she was making her rounds however, the Lunar princess came across something she hadn't seen before. It was a small strip across a door that was a rather bright violet color, it grabbed her attention instantly before using her magic to turn the doorknob.

What she entered into left her appalled as she had never seen such a sight in her life. Inside the dream came into focus in less than a second, it was a dream that was held by that of an older pegasus stallion, one she had seen on occasion in Canterlot, but couldn't put her hoof on his name. In the dream though, she saw the creatures she had seen in the young unicorn filly's dream not too long ago, only this time they were more numerous while the stallion was forced to fend them off. It was here she realized a multitude of things, that first, a purple marker signified that there was an outside intruder in the dreams, manipulating them similar to what she did. Unlike her though, they meant a great deal of harm, because as she recalled, if an outside intruder were to take a pony's life in a dream, it would also end the life of the pony in question.

She leapt in immediately, the door closing and vanishing behind her. Here she was left befuddled as the dreamscape of the older stallion seemed to vanish as though it had been an illusion. Luna's initial reflex was to make an attempt to cast the return spell, as she was however, from the darkness came a dark blue blast of magic similar to her own. She simply sidestepped, given the distance between her and the blast. It wasn't the end of her troubles though, as she avoided the blast, another could be seen blazing through the air in her direction, this time giving shape to the darkness. After bringing up a small shield as a defense, which easily deflected the blast, the dream had taken form. Instantly she froze, feeling the emptiness she had in the past as she was faced with the barren landscape of the moon.

"No..." she mouthed, as her hooves felt the dust stir up around her. It wasn't a place she wanted to be at all, while she could project herself onto the moon, she didn't want to be reliving it in dreams. Luna found herself frozen, struggling to comprehend why a stallion was dreaming of the lunar surface. It took a moment for the reality of it to hit her, shaking her head in attempts to fight the lonely memories of the moon. 'Stay together...its just a dream...' she repeated in her head several times. 'Keep it together...'

"Is it just a dream?" a voice asked, this made her shift her attention in all directions, looking for the source of the voice she had heard. "Or is it reality?" Her ears perked up after the second line came, lowering her head in anger. This voice was one she recognized from years ago, the one that had enticed her back on the moon, she remembered each day for the first three hundred sixty-nine years, but after that the rest had become nothing but a blur, these were often memories she had pushed aside thanks to Emerald's soothing words and warm embrace. Luna simply stood in silence, while she reflected on the voice, listening very carefully while her horn began to glow.

"It is simply just a nightmare." she muttered, "One I will have no part of!" From the very tip of the princess' horn came a blast of light, one that seemed to shine through the dark of the dream that she had been trapped within, this seemed to not only dispel what had been placed before her, but also prove to reveal her assailant. At the simple sight of her, she didn't even flinch, instead she found herself diving at the target in pure fury. To say the least, the dark alicorn was shocked that her lighter half had dispelled the illusion so easily, not only that, but had also revealed her location at the same time. It wasn't over yet though, as Luna dived at Nightmare Moon, the dark princess raised her horn at her light half, unleashing another blast of magic similar to the one that she had fired previously. A howl in pain could be heard as she was sent barreling through the darkness, her form now covered in several small cuts, which seemed rather surprising to both that it wasn't worse as she pulled herself to her hooves.

"You are still the same foal whom I overtook all those years ago." Nightmare Moon uttered, this seemed to trigger something within the lunar princess, her eyes growing wide as she remembered back to that night. That night by far was one of her worst memories, as she recalled vague images of what her darker form had done to her sister. An image flashed in her mind for a moment, one of her sister's badly broken body, a refusal to fight back. It hadn't been until her parents stepped in, that they had finally subdued her. This had been the last time she had seen her parents before being subjected to the barren landscape of the moon. She fought back tears as she gazed at her darker visage, before growling.

The dark alicorn took a step back, not having foreseen this reaction in her plans. As she took a step back, Luna took a step forward, her wings fully extending as the familiar glow began to take ahold of her horn. Everything happened in a flash from there, as the princess unleashed her own blast of magic, this one in the form of a beam, at Nightmare Moon. She was stunned to say the least at her light half's reaction, almost to the point where the blast had scored a direct hit on her. Thankfully though, she had regained her focus just in time, using her wings to take to the sky to avoid the blast.

"Bad idea!" the light half yelled, adjusting the trajectory of the beam by just tilting her head, this caused the blast to seemingly follow the dark princess. She panicked, beginning to fly around in zig-zags in attempts to avoid the blast. Luna however, had actually anticipated this panic, adjusting her trajectory just once more. As she raised her horn just a tiny bit, the beam crossed the exact path that Nightmare Moon was just entering, this is where a loud shriek could be heard echoing in Luna's head before she finally snapped to in her real body.

The princess could feel her heart racing as she fought to catch her breath with her head resting on Emerald's shoulder. She brought her hoof to her chest, placing it over her heart, before turning to him with a worried look on her face. He knew right then and there something was going to happen soon.

"I was lucky..." Luna finally whispered to him.

"You mean...?" she could only nod in response, as if knowing what he was going to say. His own face filled with worry as they both turned to head inside.

Nightmare Moon let out a shriek of absolute agony as blood ran from areas of her body. She hadn't anticipated that her lighter half would get the best of her in the land of dreams, but apparently it was so. She rushed over to a mirror in her chambers, while it was cracked, she could make out some of her injuries, blood dripping from them. While they were minor, as she stood facing herself she began to realize something, before quietly trotting out into the hall. Several of her minions galloped to her side as she stumbled out of her room, more drained than she had previously thought from the encounter. As they began to treat her, she rested a hoof on the wall to steady herself, swearing inwardly she began to work on another plan, this one far worse than the previous. She received a few growls from the shadows, as if indicating that her wounds had been healed by this time, before she trotted off down the halls.


	14. Together, We Ride

Chapter 14

Dawn rose over Ponyville, although it was hardly visible through the thick white clouds that loomed overhead. Just after the sun had risen had the snow begun to fall, which only made things more complicated as a cart began to roll into town. Pulling the cart along was a bright orange stallion, judging by his rather large build, he was that of an earth pony, but even by earth pony standards he was rather large, which would draw attention to him. Even through the outer clothing he wore, which consisted mostly of just a simple hooded jacket, his muscles were very visible. If you looked closely, on his flank you could see a white crescent moon along with a chef's hat, or a toque as its called in some cultures. His mane was that of a very dull silvery color, one that almost seemed grey, it was fairly short and well groomed. As he entered the town, his forest green orbs shifted from right to left, as if he was looking for something, before he continued on his path. The cart he pulled to some would seem very heavy considering that on it, two large broiling pots could be seen, however it seemed he was able to pull it with little trouble, even through the snow. Just as he shifted his path however, from the sky something pitch black dived at him. At first it seemed like a blur to his eyes, which caused him to reel back in a start, forcing the cart to accidentally dislodge, and because of the imbalanced weight on the cart, it fell back, causing the pots and their contents to spill out onto the snow. Gallons of broth spilled out onto the snow followed by several pounds of very fine noodles, causing them all to go to waste.

"It took me three months to perfect that broth recipe..." he muttered under his breath as he could only watch as the noodles and broth spilled out onto the ground. After a moment, he turned up to the sky where he had assumed his pegasus assailant had flown off to. "You're going to pay for that!" he shouted as the intoxicatingly delicious aroma of the broth filled the air. Eventually his eyes were able to lock onto his assailant, but he was left astonished by what he saw, as he hadn't seen a pegasus like that before. Its coat was as dark as a starless, moonless night, even its mane was the same, aside from a bit of black mist rising from its body. From that moment he realized that it wasn't an ordinary pegasus, but something far worse. His fears came to fruition as he began to hear hoof-steps, almost like a stampede coming from behind him, this made him spiral around, locking onto a large crowd of similar appearing ponies, more of them than he could possibly hope to count. The orange pony's mind seemed to go blank as he stared down the stampede of black coated, misty-maned ponies.

"Out of the way!" a voice shouted, as he found himself being pushed out of the path of the stampede. It was one he recognized in a matter of seconds, however remained too terrified to say anything, that was, until he was in the cover of an alleyway. He slowly turned to the forest green pegasus, recognizing him even faster than he had recognized his voice. He had a bright blue mane which seemed to be an appealing opposite to the forest green coat he had. What really sold it for the orange earth pony aside from the fact that the pegasus had bright crimson eyes, which only seemed to draw attention to his eyes over the rest of his features, aside from the small scar beneath his left eye and the bright red lightning bolt cutie mark on his flank.

"Crimson, what are you doing here in Ponyville?" the earth pony asked, not even bothering to give a hello to him, as he found the pegasus to be extremely obnoxious.

"Saving your sorry flank, that's what!" he roared, only to have the earth pony's hoof being pushed into his mouth.

"Hush! We don't want to be heard."

"Don't you hush me, Adamant!" the pegasus shouted, slapping the hoof from his mouth.

"I said shut up, you idiot!" Adamant ordered, just peeking outside the alleyway between two buildings. It wasn't much to hide in, but it was sufficient for the time being to the two of them. The earth pony's harsh words did indeed prove effective this time around as Crimson seemed to go silent, at least for a few moments as he hovered just above the ground, peeking out much like the earth pony.

"What are those things, brother?" the green pegasus asked, his tone not being hushed in the least.

"Shhhh! Be quieter!" Adamant first mentioned. "And, I have no idea...and with that many...its not a surprise that the citizens of Ponyville aren't out of their houses yet."

"What should we do?" To the earth pony, this seemed like a stupid question to ask, but at the same time, Adamant didn't seem too shocked that his brother would be asking it, however all he could simply do was give a very frustrated look to the pegasus, before shaking his head slowly and turning forward again.

"First we should head to the library to figure out what they are...and how we can defeat them." Adamant finally said, looking at the seemingly endless hordes of these dark ponies galloping through the streets. What really sent a chill up the duo's spines however, causing their manes and coats to become frazzled with shock was who they saw flying above them. The orange earth pony squinted as he looked up at the figure, his vision not as good as it should really be. At first all he saw was a bit of a blurry black figure with a dark purple mane, one that looked black to others, her tail even this color as well. The coat she had was also as dark as the night along with her wings and...her horn? This is what left him confused, he only knew of four alicorns in his life, and this didn't resemble any of them, especially considering he had heard of Princess Luna's recent return to Canterlot. It wasn't until he spotted the dark purple splotch with a bright blue crescent moon in it did his eyes go wide.

_'How could that be...?' _He had heard the rumors, but didn't believe they could be true, was this really what he had read in the _Equestria Today, The Hoofington Post, and The Canterlot Times? _How could it be plausible that _she _could still be around? It was believed to him, and most of his family that Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna were one being, however this proved to not be the case with this, as he gazed on in horror. Even Crimson recognized her as he recalled the family duties he had been told by his grandfather before he passed on. Both turned to each other and simply gulped, exchanging worried looks. Why was Nightmare Moon in Ponyville? This was their first question, and their second, what were these shadow-like ponies that she was leading? As they asked these questions to themselves, Adamant recalled what he had said earlier, before simply gesturing in the direction of the library, asking his elder brother to follow.

A shriek of pain echoed in the entire building as Luna felt her legs giving out from under her. This caused her to collapse on the ground, now clutching her head in what seemed to be agony. This jarred everyone awake, Silver falling on his side as he fell out of his meditation, Twilight leaping out of her bed, and even Spike, who was usually a rather heavy sleeper leapt from the smaller bed he often slept in. Emerald was the first by the princess' side, attempting to help her back onto her hooves before she fell over with another shout in utter agony. By this time, tears were rolling down her cheeks from the unknown source of the pain. Everyone else soon gathered around her, watching silently as the green unicorn tried to bring her comfort by holding her close. The episode soon died down however, and she was finally able to regain her footing, once again leaning on her stallion for support.

"Nightmare Moon is near." were the only words that she uttered, which caused everyone's eyes to fly wide open. Even Silver was in shock as he heard this, a reaction like Luna's didn't come lightly from his personal experience, to him it wasn't a good omen, considering his superstitious nature.

"But how could she...?" Emerald began, "That didn't happen the last time you and her were in close proximity." Twilight raised her hoof here, as if she knew something.

"A week ago, I read something on this...that apparently if two sides of the same pony ever met face to face, in person, it would often cause one, or both of them pain depending on the actions of one or both of them...often it was caused by how much magic one of them used." Emerald's eyes seemed to brighten as Twilight explained this to them, but before he could speak, the door swung open which made everyone turn in its direction. At the door stood the bright orange earth pony and behind him fluttered the forest green pegasus. Both the deep blue alicorn and the darker green unicorn's jaws dropped as their eyes laid on the two.

"Adamant! Crimson!" Both of them shouted simultaneously, they turned to each other for a brief second, giving a chuckle before the other two galloped inside. Both held shocked expressions on their face from seeing their brothers, but were also extremely out of breath. On Adamant's face and body, a few bloody scratches could be seen as if he had been in a fight, the same thing applied to Crimson, who seemed to have more than his brother, the only difference was, his mane and wings were messier as he hovered in place. After the orange pony caught his breath however, he slowly looked up, his eyes locking onto whom he thought to be Nightmare Moon for a brief second, leaning on his little brother. His vision quickly adjusted though, realizing that it was instead Princess Luna, which only left him more than confused. Crimson however, didn't think all that much about it, so he dived at the Princess whom was still recovering a bit from her earlier episode.

"Get away from my brother!" he shouted, only to be blasted away by a bright green orb, which apparently came from the brother that she was leaning on. Sparks could be seen flowing out of his horn as it still held a bit of a charge from the earlier blast.

"Crimson...its Princess Luna, not Nightmare Moon." Emerald stated. "And how DARE you attack my beautiful Lunar princess." Luna could only blush at the compliment, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. This sent both Adamant and Crimson into a run of extreme confusion, as they were left scratching their heads at his words. What did he mean by _his princess?_ Silver simply chuckled as they thought about what he had said.

Twilight cleared her throat to grab their attention. "What is the meaning of this? Why did you two just come stomping in here, the library isn't open until ten."

"But...we had to!" Adamant blurted out frantically. "Nightmare Moon is in town...and she has a massive army!" Everyone froze at this precise moment, shivers traveling up their spines rather quickly. Silver turned to his beaten brothers, looking over their wounds for a moment, before he sighed.

"This explains why Princess Luna let out that shriek not more than five minutes ago, and why you two are scratched up." His tone shifted at this point, while it had once been a bit softer, it had now become one that a leader would often have. "Twilight, do you know any shadow banishing, or light spells?" This question came as a shock to her, especially in his new tone. His voice had grown deeper and far more serious than she had previously heard, any hint of gentleness vanished. It almost terrified her to hear him speak in this tone, yet, she also found the deepness of his voice rather appealing, to the point where her cheeks flushed just a tiny bit.

Twilight shook off her attraction to his voice after a second, as well as her blushing to give a response. "Yes, I do, however I haven't had an opportunity to practice these spells yet."

"Well, you're about to get some first-hand experience in using them...do not screw up." he said, taking full charge of the entire situation. "Its still early in Ponyville, so I'm certain we can handle everything...Crimson, your task is to ensure that the civilians are safe, I need you to fly over town and ensure everyone stays in their homes, I will cast a telepathy spell that will allow you to send the message to them." Next he turned to Adamant, Crimson only nodding as he got up to his feet from the earlier blast. "Next, Adamant, you will be with Twilight, and your duty is to ensure that she stays safe while you attempt to thin down the hordes, from my own experience, I can assume they're still of the same spell that she has been using...so a few physical hits will defeat them." Truth be told, the three brothers hadn't ever seen their brother like this in their lives. Where had he learned how to act like this? Why didn't he show it until now? Did he have a secret that he was keeping from them? Even Emerald seemed perplexed by his actions, however he recalled what Celestia had said, which is when it hit him. In his time with the Princess of the Sun, he had picked up a few leadership skills, which only made him smile.

Luna stomped her hoof as he gave out the orders, leaning off the green unicorn for a moment to speak up. "I'll handle Nightmare Moon-" she was cut off by Silver in a second, placing his hoof on her mouth as if telling her to be quiet. The princess felt insulted immediately, even Twilight didn't like this gesture toward the princess, that was, until he spoke to her.

"You and Emerald are to remain here until your strength has recovered, then you will join the battle." he pointed out. "In your present state, even though the weakness isn't that bad, she would wipe the floor with you, and we cannot risk that...instead I wish to request that, with Spike's help, that you send a letter to your sister, requesting aide in this matter...it isn't something we can handle on our own for very long..."

Adamant took over from here, as if knowing what his elder brother was about to say. "And even if we were able to handle it ourselves, we'd still have a lot to clean up." Silver could only gesture a small nod in his brother's direction, before turning back to Luna with a serious look on his face.

"If you get that letter out as quickly as you possibly can...Then I can assure you she'd use...one of the royal teleportation spells to get the reinforcements here."

"But, who will-" the Lunar princess was cut short again by the male alicorn, whom, by this point was beginning to work her nerves a tiny bit with how many times he had interrupted her.

"I will." His response came as a shock to everyone once again. "I will handle Nightmare Moon, aside from Luna, Celestia...or mom...I'm probably the only other pony who can handle her, even for a short while."

"But she's a goddess! How can you expect to stand up to her?!" Luna argued, "She'll destroy you!"

Silver's eyes slowly closed, as he inhaled. "I have little chance of beating her...but the best I can hope to accomplish with this is...weakening her...or exhausting her." the male alicorn shifted his gaze for a moment, noticing that the room still had one too many ponies in it, which only made his eye twitch a tiny bit. "GET GOING!" was the last thing they heard before they scrambled. As he was trotting out the door, he turned back. "Emerald...Luna...if we make it out of this...may fortune smile on your relationship."

The second Silver set foot outside the library, he was met with a dreadful sight, one that made him feel sick to his stomach. The army was massive, at least a good five hundred, and they were all heading to their present location, it would be enough to make anypony scream in sheer terror, yet, he didn't flinch. Leading the horde of shadow ponies they could all see Nightmare Moon, flying just above them in her full glory, giving out orders.

The alicorn turned to Twilight and his two brothers. "If things get bad, Twilight, I want you to get back to the library...I won't have you risking your life for our task."

"What? But, I thought-" she tried to say, only to be cut off by the alicorn.

"For two reasons...One, this is our family's duty, our loyalties lie to the crown, and to the royal family...we are willing to put down our lives for the sake of all of the ponies in Equestria and the world." This sounded like a pathetic excuse for Twilight, while a noble one, it still seemed pathetic to her. "And two...because, if Celestia found out I let her favorite student die, she'd throw me into the sun, especially after I broke her heart earlier this year."

"Wait, you mean-" Twilight stuttered for a moment. "You and Celestia...you-How come she didn't say anything?!"

"Didn't need to, merely a day after our first...date..." he cleared his throat. "Rumors were already floating around about how she was seeing some attractive stallion...and with our family, 'every word of it is true'." he remarked, giving a soft chuckle to the unicorn, who could only blush as she listened to it. "Now, you all know your tasks...tread carefully, and stay safe." Everypony nodded, as they all galloped or flew off in their separate directions.


	15. All Out

Chapter 15

He galloped through the endless crowds of shadow ponies as his elder brother had dubbed them not too long ago. His body moving in front of a magical blast that he had spotted coming from a dark unicorn. The energy within the blast was a mixture of black and purple in color, yet when it hit his body he seemed to dispel it from around him with little effort. While it did leave him feeling physically numbed for a few seconds he muddled through it, before using his head as a weapon to charge into the crowd again. Twilight was astonished at his displays of strength and stamina, what she had witnessed so far as they attempted to force back the hordes of shadow ponies was nothing short of amazing, even for an earth pony. While she continued to blast away with the spell she knew, she couldn't help but start wondering about their entire family. How was it that an Earth Pony, Alicorn, Unicorn and Pegasus could've even come from the same parent? It wasn't just his endurance or his ability to brush off magical blasts, which is what he had been enduring since before the battle had begun, but it was also his movements.

As the struggle continued, it became apparent to Twilight that, aside from their bizarre lineage, this family of ponies was by far the most unusual she had ever seen in her time. She watched on, unleashing another spell from her horn as Adamant knocked another shadow pony into a large group, this allowed her to strike them all down at once, reducing them to the simple mist that they started as. His movements were so fluid, dodging most of the hooves that seemed to come his way. It was a relief to both the purple unicorn and the orange earth pony that the shadows didn't have any proper weapons in their favor, that all they could actually muster aside from ariel strikes, were simple blasts of magic.

Adamant coughed as he took a blow to his stomach from his left side. This seemed to throw his balance off completely, causing him to nearly fall to the ground to catch his breath, that was until he spotted shadow pegasus, the one from before, diving right at Twilight and she didn't seem to notice it either. "Twilight! Above you!" he forced out as he took another swift kick, this time to his face. On his mentioning of this, the mare turned her attention in the direction Adamant's front hoof had gestured to. Without hesitation a brilliant raspberry colored light erupted from her horn, aimed at the shadow diving at her. This occurred before the shadow pegasus realized it, taking the blast full on which reduced it to nothing but mist. Once this was dealt with she began firing in rapid succession, multiple blasts into the still seemingly endless hordes. This allowed for the orange stallion to do a quick whirl on the ground, sweeping the legs of the shadows as they grew distracted by the purple unicorn. Once on his hooves again, the stallion took several steps back.

"Adamant, look out!" came Twilight's voice, this caused his focus to shift around. Before he realized it though, he soon felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. This pain shot through his body in less than a second, causing him to let out a very loud cry in sheer agony. Now latched onto his neck was a shadow pegasus, however unlike the others, this one had fangs that seemed to dig into his flesh. Blood ran down the back of his neck very slowly as he attempted to shake the creature off to no avail. Thankfully for him though, Twilight was nearby, this allowed her to unleash another blast of the purple light. This blast seemed to engulf the two of them for a brief second, and once it had vanished Adamant found the pain had become rather dull on his neck. It only took him a moment to adjust before he took notice of a bright light traveling in the unicorn's direction.

Without hesitation, he leapt, which for a stallion of his size was rather impressive. Adrenaline pumping through every corner of his body, his heart pounding in his chest. Twilight's eyes went wide as, before she realized it, the stallion had saved her life for the first time today. Adamant had taken another direct hit with a blast of magic, however unlike the last ones the shadows had been using, this one had been one charged with electricity. The current shot through his body, causing him to let out a shrill cry in utter agony. To the unicorn's eyes, his body had become distorted for a fraction of a second as he attempted to stand his ground even while the current flowed through him. What was an agonizing sight to her though, eventually turned into quite an astonishing one as he stomped the ground with his front right hoof. The remaining current in his body seemed to disperse after this, vanishing into the earth.

"Adamant...are you...?" she was cut off by him turning to her, at first he staggered a little bit, but after a few seconds, the stallion once again regained his footing.

Adamant peered back down at her, a smirk beginning to spread across his face. "Better than ever." he remarked, "Now, don't move...and be prepared...this is where it heats up...prepare your most powerful offensive spell...widespread."

Twilight only nodded as her horn began to glow. As if on cue, from the hordes came another blast of magic, this one the exact same as before. Unlike last time however, the earth pony lowered his head, allowing the blast to strike him head on. The instant it did, he charged, his body now coated in an electrical current. Whether it was sheer agony or anger it was impossible to tell as he struck the first of many shadows. This transferred the current that had hit his body into a single shadow, which turned out to be one of a unicorn. From the unicorn shadow's horn the current traveled outward, striking all other shadows within the vicinity.

"NOW!" he roared, as a wave of purple energy seemed to wash over the entire area. He ducked down in an instant, covering his head with his hooves as the blast traveled over him. This blast proved to be the most effective move by far, wiping a fair chunk of the shadows. It came at a price however, as Twilight could be seen stumbling a bit as a backlash of the spell.

Adamant struggled to his hooves, his legs wobbled from the current, before he galloped over to her. While his body did ache from the movement alone, he pushed past it to catch the unicorn mare before she fell into the snow, her body at its limit.

"Do I pass?" he only chuckled at this as she looked up at him.

"Yes...you pass Twilight."

Their success however was short-lived as more shadows began to encroach upon them. Adamant attempted to step back as they stepped forward, however this proved useless as he quickly found himself trapped up against a wall.

The alicorn wasn't pleased with the decisions he had made. As he flew off to confront Nightmare Moon, he found himself regretting what he had done. Should he have had Crimson team up with Adamant and Twilight? Should he have left Luna and Emerald alone in the library? Should he be facing Nightmare Moon alone? These were all the questions he couldn't help but ask himself, as he felt the pressure beginning to rise in the pit of his stomach. Truth was, he knew very well that he couldn't beat the dark princess, nor could he hold a candle to her. Yet, he continued to wonder why he was making such a irrational decision. Was it because he still held feelings for Celestia? Was it for the oath his family made to the King and Queen? As he opened his eyes, he carefully took his place on a nearby cloud, folding his wings up as he stood in preparation to face the dark alicorn.

It was then he knew why he was doing this, why he was making a decision that could possibly end his life. It wasn't because of his feelings to the sun princess, nor was it because of his family's oath, it was solely because he knew it was the right thing to do. A darkness like Nightmare Moon couldn't be allowed to have power in this world, it would spell the end of all things. He exhaled as he stood facing her, fear filled every inch of his body, however he fought past it, as he had faced her twice before.

Nightmare Moon felt different than before as he faced her down. He could see the difference in her eyes, it was one of great rage and hatred. It wasn't a look he had ever seen in her eyes, unlike before when her eyes were filled with lust. "So, come to reconsider my offer?" she enquired, a part of her hoping that he had, as she did find herself rather attracted to the stallion, especially considering he was the first alicorn stallion she had ever seen. Silver's eyes narrowed as the words crossed her lips, when they narrowed, something snapped in him, the coloration of his eyes growing clearer and more fierce. For the first time he found himself filled with rage, his silvery aura beginning to gather on his horn.

"No, I came here to end you." he spat, "Even if it is against my philosophies to hit mares, and to fight, I'm here to finish what I started." His words were harsh, but she remained unfazed, her wings extending to fly over to him. The moment she moved even slightly, he pointed his horn in her direction, unleashing a large, silvery blast from the tip. While she was easily able to avoid it, he took advantage of the momentary confusion to leap off the cloud and dive at her. Unfortunately for him though, she saw this maneuver coming, as the light died down he found himself being struck by an uppercut from the dark alicorn's hoof, it was a hard blow to him as well, however using some quick action he was able to teleport himself before strike sent him any higher.

"You'll have to do better than that!" she growled, this time launching her own magic blast. The blast itself was a very dark blue, almost black, which Silver was able to block with a combination of his hooves and magic, as the magic fizzled out however, he was met with another hoof to the face, or at least, that's what it looked like at first, that was until he pushed her hoof down a tiny bit with his own. Her eyes widened as he lowered his horn to her, the very tip of it aimed at her face.

"How's this for you?" he remarked, as a bright silvery light erupted from his horn. This sent both alicorns flying back. While Silver hadn't taken any damage, he had to shake off the daze of the risky move he just successfully pulled. Once he regained his flight, he simply hovered, landing on a cloud gracefully. Nightmare Moon however wasn't as lucky, the light had left her temporarily blinded in her left eye, not only that, it also left its mark on her face as well, as across the very same side she had a second degree burn visible.

"HOW DARE YOU!" her voice boomed, before flying into a blind rage at the stallion. He could only smirk at her rage as she dived at him, with her fury, while it gave her a bit more strength, it also made her a bit more predictable in her movements. Upon reaching him she began swiping at the stallion with her hooves, to which he fluidly avoided or blocked using his own hooves. Every time he would block her strike, she would only grow more frustrated, letting out a rather loud growl in her anger.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he taunted as he batted away her left hoof. He gradually grew more arrogant as he continued to avoid and block her strikes, this only resulted in him lowering his guard a tiny bit. This became her opening, lowering her horn to attempt what he had done. As her horn began to glow, his eyes grew. 'Oh crap...' were his last thoughts before he felt the force of a magic blast strike him right in the face. This sent him spiraling into a nearby cloud, which he was thankful for being there. The blast itself hadn't caused as much damage as his had caused on her, leaving just a very minor burn on his left cheek. Even though it hadn't caused that much damage though, it still left quite a painful sensation across most of his face, which only caused a spike in his own anger.

The tide shifted here as he flew back to her, attempting to strike the dark alicorn with his own hooves with little avail. Every attempt at a strike he made, whether it was with a front hoof or a back hoof, proved fruitless for him as he felt her hoof land a blow right in his stomach. This sent him fluttering back as he cringed. Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide however as his head lowered, picking up the faint glow of his aura around his horn. Before she knew it, another silvery blast erupted from his horn, sending her flying back once again. Unlike before though, it didn't leave a single mark on her, which only allowed her to land gracefully on a cloud with a chuckle.

"I thought you'd be a better fighter than this, Silver." she sneered, she'd be right too, however he only smirked in response, wiping away the bit of blood from the corner of his mouth as he hovered in the air.

"I'm just getting warmed up!" he roared, this time diving at the dark alicorn. The fight really began to pick up here as both of them took even higher to the skies, vanishing from sight down below. Faster than a normal eye could see, the strikes began occurring, Silver was the first to land a blow this time, hitting her stomach rather hard with his right hoof. Nightmare Moon ignored the pain, landing a blow with her left hoof across his face, leaving a small cut, he followed up with a strike of his own across her face, this time across her burn. This opened up the wound further, causing blood to splatter out. She winced in pain, but remained unfazed otherwise, spiraling around with her back hooves to strike him on the right side of his face, before using her wings to change trajectory in a flash, striking the top of his head with one of her back hooves. This sent him into a brief daze, giving her the opportunity to launch a magic blast right in his face. The combination, while devastating, left his front legs with rather severe burns over them, a howl of pain could be heard before he retaliated, uppercutting her with his right hoof. While she was stunned, he struck with his left hoof, aiming for her stomach again, this time with intention of knocking the wind out of her, however before his attack could land, she vanished into thin air.

"Come on, Silver..." her seductive voice whispered. "Join me...and I'll even spare your precious brothers." Unfortunately for Nightmare Moon however, her voice didn't work this time, as he took ahold of her head with his hooves, using the back of his to strike her as hard as he could. Ignoring the pain once again, he vanished before her, while she was caught rubbing the end of her muzzle, before readjusting it, almost as if he had broken it. Next thing she knew, she found herself hurdling to the ground after being struck from behind by the alicorn stallion.

"The same trick doesn't work twice!" he shouted to her before she vanished once again in attempts to stop herself from crashing into the ground. From this moment, his eyes went wide, and the battle shifted gears once again. From a spectator's perspective it began to look like it was a battle of teleportation, as they could be seen doing as such across the skies over Ponyville, that was, until there was a bright purple flash in the sky, from it a figure could be seen flying with a trail of smoke following him.

Silver crashed hard into the streets of Ponyville, using what strength he could muster to not crash into a building. The crash carved him into the land quite significantly, skidding across it before he finally came to a stop. His entire body was battered and bruised, blood dripping from various places and the earth had only worked to aggravate the injuries. Before long the alicorn found himself surrounded by the various shadow ponies, poised to strike.

"So...this is what the mighty Silver Crescent is what reduced to?" Nightmare Moon questioned, carrying an air of arrogance as she stood atop a cloud. Even though she was in rather rough shape herself, she was far better off than him. From this moment, Silver leapt to his hooves, his mane began to flow with a tremendous amount of energy, a bit of an electrical charge flowing through it, before his eyes began to glow pure white as his horn was enveloped with the familiar magical aura. Rage seemed to fill his very being as he stared up at the dark alicorn. Not that far away, both Adamant and Twilight witnessed this event unfold. They stood in horror as they watched the magical energies flow around him before he vanished from the spot he stood in.

This time, it wasn't a teleportation spell that caused him to vanish, at least from what her eyes could make out. In the time she had been around, Nightmare Moon had never seen anyone move quite that fast. Before she knew it though, she felt a hard blow directly on her chin, her eyes went wide as this occurred, even more agonizing pain shooting through every inch of her body. 'How did he...?' she thought as she began to fly upward due to the blow. Everything seemed to travel in slow motion for her as she felt another blow from Silver's hoof, this one was once again to her stomach, which knocked the wind right out of her. In a last ditch effort however, she launched a kick, one, due to their positions would be considered rather cheap as an attempt to get him off her. The attack worked as he doubled over in the most extreme of pain. His eyes began to water as he clutched the area she had grabbed with his own hooves before falling from the sky, unable to focus on keeping himself in the air due to the pain.

"Cheater!" the stallion wheezed out.

"L-look who's talking!" she gasped, clutching her own stomach. "I-I was only getting even!"

"Even!? Is that what you call it?" he called out from the ground, his voice still higher than what it normally was. "You struck me in my balls!"

As she regained her composure, she only chuckled, gently landing on the ground before him. "You hit me in the stomach enough times in this fight...its only fair." she whispered.

"There's a difference between the two...hitting me in my testicles is a very cheap shot...stomach is fair game." he pointed out, struggling to get back to his feet.

"I'm evil, what do I care about fair?" she laughed as he wobbled back to his feet, still in a bit of pain.

"If fairness isn't what you care for..." His next strike happened in a flash as he fired another blast from the end of his horn, this time however, it had quite a bit more force in it as it struck, sending her barreling back into the sky. Nightmare Moon spiraled from the blast, her body spun for several agonizing seconds before she was finally able to get a grasp on herself. After straightening her trajectory a malicious grin began to spread across her face, as if she had gained an idea. This train of thought was abruptly cut short as she doubled over in pain from several of the burn marks that had been left on her body by the magic blast. "Then I won't care for it either!" came a sudden shout from behind. He was fast, faster than she recalled. How could an alicorn of his stature possibly move that fast? Was it an illusion? Did that blast inflict more damage to her than she had realized or did it have an additional effect? Either way though, it mattered not to her as she was forced to take another physical blow from him, this time it was packing heat. The blow proved to be harder than the previous and given they were in the air, she was flung rather hard this time, but before she could travel any further, she felt a familiar grip on the end of her tail. Silver only smirked as he begun to spin her around using a combination of his hooves and his telekinetic grip, before releasing her.

The dark alicorn bounced, leaving impact craters behind where she had landed, before her face was buried into the earth. With her front hooves, she began to force herself up, coughing rather hoarsely as she struggled to her feet. He was strong, the last time she had fought him he hadn't shown this much strength, but then again, he had a spell that took her out with a single strike back then. This is why she liked him though, he was handsome, intelligent and he was an alicorn stud no less. He would've been the perfect candidate for her king and to be the one to grant her an heir too. As she struggled to her hooves, she pushed these thoughts from her mind, her anger now rising. A faint glow began to envelope her horn as she glared up at him.

Slowly, the stallion began to descend before her, with a smug grin on his face. "Give up yet, Princess?" her ears perked up the moment she heard the word 'princess', feeling a bit of rage as he'd demoralize her right now. It only proved to increase her rage as the magic continued to gather, to which Silver failed to take note of, until it was far too late for him to react. His eyes flew open wide before he began to gather his own magic in attempts to teleport, but it failed as a large wave of fire erupted from the end of her horn. 'Fire spells!' his mind screamed, as he felt the fur across most of his body begin to singe off, he panicked here before he teleported, taking a majority of the flames along with him in the process. Nightmare Moon grinned in victory, assuming she had chased him off, that was until she was overcome with a sense of dread and danger. From left to right, her eyes began to shift, before turning around completely, as if looking for him. In her fear, she finally took to the skies again, this proved to be her biggest mistake in the fight as, by that time, Silver had gathered the strength he needed. "Its over now!" he roared, throwing every last scrap of strength he had left into a singular magical beam aimed for the dark alicorn. This seemed to be what she had been waiting for however, as she spun around, unleashing her own blast.

Everything went dark after this, at least for Silver anyhow as he fell from the sky, crashing hard into the ground. Everypony's eyes went wide as they saw this occur, Adamant even attempted to break through the hordes of seemingly endless shadows just to get to his own brother in a fit of rage. It was to no avail however as they seemed to grow in strength with Nightmare Moon's victory over the alicorn stallion. As she descended onto the land, her laughter began to echo, the hordes began to close in as the unicorn mare and earth pony stallion began to back up.

"What do we do?" Twilight asked, firing off another spell as she backed up further. In truth, Adamant didn't have the faintest clue as to what they should do, they were outnumbered, outmatched and on top of all that, Nightmare Moon had defeated his eldest brother. As he backed up, he turned to the mare, who by this time had been brought relatively close to her limit. While she remained mostly uninjured, she was exhausted. It was evident on her face as she turned to him.

"I...don't-" He was cut short however, as a brilliant, bright green energy erupted all around them. From the ground sprouted various vines and plants, they seemed to ignore the snow as they sprouted up in mere seconds. The sudden reaction seemed to blast away a vast majority of the hordes of shadow ponies, being reduced to a fine smoke before vanishing completely. Twilight stood in shock as she took this time to inspect the vines a bit more closely, poking at them with her hoof. Unlike regular vines, these vines were transparent, formed of what seemed like energy.

"What are these?" she questioned, continuing to poke at them.

It only took a minute before Adamant chuckled softly. "About damn time, Emerald." he cursed under his breath.

Emerald and Luna stood on the balcony, overlooking a fair amount of Ponyville, both of their horns glowing with their respective magics. He could only smile at the princess, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. She smiled back, before her attention turned back to Ponyville. "I never thought your family's magic was that strong." the lunar princess commented.

"Its only that strong because you gave it a boost with yours." she giggled, kissing him playfully on the cheek in return. The glow from the princess' horn slowly began to fade, along with it, the plant life made of energy.

"Go tend to your brothers and Twilight Sparkle...I'll handle Nightmare Moon from here."

"Just promise me one thing though, Luna." he whispered.

"Anything." She was caught off guard for a moment as he pulled her into one last kiss.

"Just promise me that you'll kick her flank into the next millennium."


	16. Luna's Rage

Chapter 16

Luna's eyes slowly opened as she looked upon the now nearly empty streets of Ponyville. Their combined magic had done what they had intended, bringing an end to the seemingly endless hordes of shadow ponies. This was a relief to both of them, but more on the princess' side as she now knew the town would be fine. The buildings remained mostly undamaged and as far as she could see, no citizens had been hurt or even affected by the battle, that is, aside from the ones who participated. 'Crimson did his job well...' she thought, 'Perhaps I should make him a Shadow Bolt after this is over.' Slowly, she turned to Emerald one last time with a smile, before she knew it he had pulled her into one final kiss. Unlike their previous ones, this one was relatively short-lived as the Lunar princess pulled away.

"For good luck." the forest green unicorn whispered.

"How about another?" the princess asked, almost childishly. He complied, tenderly kissing her on the cheek, before her wings finally spread. Emerald's eyes held a significant amount of worry in them, he had faced things much like Nightmare Moon before and they were never that friendly in his experience.

"Be careful." was the last thing Luna heard from his mouth before she took to the skies. The expression on her face gradually shifted as she felt a rush of crisp winter air hit her face. The temperature dropped as she climbed the sky, heading for the direction of Nightmare Moon, who by this time had landed on a cloud to begin treating her own wounds. To say the least, the dark alicorn had become flustered as her lighter counterpart landed on a cloud nearby. Right away she sensed a great amount of fury emanating from her light half, however unlike what she had felt, it was much greater, yet a much calmer rage.

Below, Emerald had dashed out of the library, using a simple spell to knock down what few shadow ponies remained from his spell, to which he was left rather surprised. The ability he had used was a rather high level one and Luna had even provided a boost to the spell too, it made him wonder how they were able to endure, even if it was barely. He first stopped before Adamant and Twilight, who looked exhausted. This didn't surprise him in the least as they had been fighting rather hard against these shadows, he was just glad that they weren't severely injured. Before he knew it though, the forest green unicorn found his jaw throbbing in agony as well as him lying sprawled out on his back.

"What took you so long!?" his brother fumed, "We were nearly killed! Silver is probably nearly dead by now!" Not only was Emerald shocked by his brother's actions, but so was Twilight. She had never seen a sibling strike their younger sibling like this. In fact, she had never seen a brother that angry at his younger sibling before. Before she knew it, she had used her telekinetic grip to take ahold of the earth pony's hoof in attempts to calm him down.

"More violence won't solve anything." she stated calmly. "What's important is, he's here now." He rubbed his chin as he pulled himself to his hooves, the pain was rather numbing to his jaw. It was here he realized just how strong Adamant really was as his eyes were met with Twilight barely able to hold back another swing from the earth pony's left hoof. Thinking about it too, this would be the first time-at least for Adamant anyhow, that he had been hit. It was rare for the orange stallion to participate in acts of violence, let alone against his own family. This situation was understandable though, as it could be seen in his eyes that he was more concerned with the lives of others rather than his own. It was in his eyes that he was greatly concerned about Silver and Twilight especially.

"I'm sorry, Luna and I were working on a strategy to end this once and for all." The earth pony could only sigh in response to the statement, shaking his head slowly. His tense muscles seemed to ease however, before he trotted over to his downed brother along with Emerald and soon after, Twilight, who seemed rather curious about the previously mentioned plan to take down Nightmare Moon for good. The lavender unicorn's eyes shifted upward for a moment, taking note of the lunar princess and her dark double. From what she could tell, they were relatively quiet at the present moment, as she couldn't make out any minor lip movement.

"Twilight, help me out." Emerald's voice rang out, "Silver is heavy, it'll take all three of us to lift him." His voice seemed to snap her from her daze, before her horn began to become enveloped in her magenta aura, this began to cover Silver's limp and seemingly lifeless body fairly quickly, which was followed by a light green aura coating the magenta one. With their combined efforts, the two were able to telekinetically lift the alicorn stallion, and boy was he heavy for Twilight, even if it was just using her telekinesis. It was a strain for her to keep up the spell, which hadn't been a problem before. Then again, it could be attributed to the fact that she was exhausted from the struggle they had just been in. As they lifted him up, Adamant dashed beneath him, using his back to hold up his elder brother, who was about the same size as he was, but much heavier. He didn't seem to mind in the least either as they began to guide him. They moved slowly to ensure that Adamant was able to keep up, the alicorn groaning out as he was being carried, almost as if he was a foal who had eaten too many sweets.

Even with the present task at hand, Twilight seemed distracted. While she kept her eyes on Silver to be sure her spell remained on him, she desired to look back to Princess Luna, concerned for the princess' well-being. "Emerald, are you sure its wise to allow Princess Luna to handle Nightmare Moon alone?" she finally enquired, his silence seemed troubling as he turned back briefly to look at the light and dark halves, before his attention returned to the lavender mare.

"No, but, she insisted that she handle her dark half alone." he replied, his anxiety and concern for Luna starting to well up. The look in his eyes were enough to show his feelings for the Lunar princess alone, even if they were unspoken. Twilight didn't seem to notice as his gaze shifted to the ground.

"You...love her, don't you?" Adamant spoke up, the lavender unicorn was caught completely off guard by the orange stallion's sudden question. Emerald on the other hand, didn't seem phased by the question, in fact, it seemed he had expected it.

"Is it really that obvious?" the forest green unicorn asked, his gaze still focused on the ground. Silver coughed rather loudly, as if to insert himself into the conversation, while he appeared unconscious, a faint chuckle could be heard emanating from his throat.

"Emerald and Luna, sitting beneath a tree...K-I-S-S-I-" Silver was cut off here, as the forest green unicorn froze in his tracks, just to smack his elder brother over the head with his hoof. The look on his face seemed rather displeased and annoyed.

"Even when you're severely injured, you still act like a foal." The alicorn stallion was rendered unconscious after this, his body once again going limp as the trek through the town continued. Adamant only chuckled to this, before long the familiar green pegasus flew up to their side, landing gracefully on the ground in front of them. The pegasus stallion folded his wings as he landed, trotting over to their side to walk along with them.

"Is the battle over...?" Crimson asked, only to receive three disapproving head shakes, as he failed to take note of the two alicorns facing off in the sky over the town. The earth pony sighed especially at his elder brother's question.

"Did you ever think to just look with your eyes?" Adamant said, his tone rather agitated, "Now would you mind lending us a hoof to get Silver back to the library?" the green pegasus nodded, shifting over to his brother's side. While he couldn't help much at the present time, he walked alongside him to ensure that the alicorn wouldn't fall. As he looked upon his elder brother, he began to realize just how badly he had gotten beaten. Never in his life had he seen Silver in that bad of shape, while he had seen him take various beatings, it was never that bad. A look of worry spread across his face as he began to hope that he would pull through. Lucky for them, the library wasn't much further.

Crimson moved ahead of them, opening the door as so they could get him inside, it took some careful maneuvering to do as such too, as the combination of the alicorn and the earth pony was nearly too large for the doorway. Thankfully though, they were able to get them both inside, next came the toughest task yet...getting him upstairs. This proved to be the biggest hassle, as Adamant had to walk very carefully while carrying his brother—Even with telekinesis helping him. With each step, more sweat would run down the sides of his face. Before long though, they were able to finally get him onto a bed where he could finally rest comfortably. By this time all bleeding on his body had stopped, and he was resting rather peacefully.

"Are you sure we shouldn't take him to the hospital?" Twilight asked, still concerned for his well-being. Emerald shook his head in response at first.

"He should be fine after a day's rest..." he began, trailing off a tiny bit, as his worries for Luna began to surface again. "The wounds might not fade for a few weeks, but he should be on his hooves again by tomorrow." he soon felt the sensation of a hoof on his right shoulder, which caused him to turn in its direction.

"She'll be fine, Emerald..." Adamant said in attempts to comfort him. This seemed to spark an idea in the forest green unicorn, before a grin spread across his face.

"You can foresee the future...can you tell me how everything will end?" Once again, Twilight was caught off guard by the new information, although she had heard of some ponies being able to predict the immediate future, she hadn't heard of an earth pony with a magical ability like that. What was it with their family that granted them all these unusual abilities?

The orange stallion shook his head very slowly. "Emerald...my power of foresight is very limited...while I can see into the past and future, I can only do as such with events surrounding my own life anymore...and I'm no where near skilled enough to look into Princess Luna's future." this proved to be rather disheartening for the unicorn, who seemed to slink down, only to perk up again with a bit of frustration in his eyes.

"You used to be able to see into the futures of many! Why can't you look into mine?" Emerald seemed to fight back a few tears as his feelings for the princess began to surface again. Adamant could only place his hoof on his brother's shoulder again.

"Emerald, I can't make everypony's soufflé rise, sometimes its up to them to make their own soufflé rise." These words only seemed to confuse the unicorn more, his eyes loosing the serious tone they once had as he attempted to figure out what he was saying. Twilight on the other hand grabbed the concept of what he was saying instantly. She could only giggle softly as she watched Emerald think about the wisdom. The clock's ticking was the only thing that proved to break the silence as they all sat in one place. Before long though, the lavender mare had to speak up.

"What he's saying is, just because he can see the future, doesn't mean its written in stone...that, its up to you to shape the future." The unicorn stallion's eyes seemed to shift at this moment, growing more serious.

"You know, your food metaphors only prove to make ponies hungry, Adamant." Crimson remarked, "You should consider changing the wording."

"Never." the earth pony replied, "I'm a chef, so I shall continue speaking in the language I understand."

"But not the-"

"Quiet, both of you!" Silver shouted as he leaned up in the bed. "You argue like foals, even though you're full grown stallions."

"You're one to talk, singing childish songs and laughing at sex jokes." Emerald snapped, the alicorn's eyes closed slowly as he inhaled.

"That's irrelevant right now, Luna is about to face her dark half and you're all just standing around, doing nothing...you should be out there, trying to find a way to help her!" Silver coughed again, this time from raising his voice.

"You should rest, Silver, don't stress your body anymore than you need to." Twilight whispered to him, placing her hoof on his chest to force him back into the bed.

"I'll be fine." Silver mumbled, "Just let me finish talking." he once again coughed, this time into his hoof before he turned his attention back to his brothers. "Adamant, Crimson, you two need to stay here in Ponyville, as much as I'd hate for Emerald to go alone, he's truly the only one in peak condition...plus, he was the only one who answered the call, so its his job to protect Luna, not ours..." the forest green unicorn only nodded to his brother's words, knowing well what he had to do already, even if Luna told him not to do as such. "I believe it would be the best idea too...as I have a feeling Nightmare Moon has a plan." Everything seemed to change as he spoke, their worries beginning to grow for the lunar princess.

"W-what do you mean?" Emerald stuttered.

"I mean...while I was fighting her, I took note of some...rather unusual figures out of the corner of my eye." he coughed, attempting to clear his throat again, only to feel a bit of pain shoot up his back. "I only saw them for a second, but I swore they were shadow ponies...however, they were different...they seemed...more complete...more powerful." The look on his face seemed to grow darker, more fearful. "I could've sworn...they looked like alicorns." the forest green unicorn flew into a panic after this, before he galloped off.

The silence was deafening to both alicorns as they remained locked in each other's gaze. Luna first took notice of Nightmare Moon's injuries, they were quite severe, which proved to work to her advantage. Immediately, various strategies began to run through the lunar princess' mind as she attempted to find the right move to handle her dark double. Perhaps she could start with physical combat? No, that was a bad idea, she was still a bit larger in stature compared to herself and would probably have a fair amount of trouble. Perhaps weaponry combat? No, it was out of the question mostly due to the fact she had forgotten her sword back in her room. Plus it had been sitting there for nearly a thousand years, untouched. It was probably useless in its present state. She paced her breathing, exhaling rather softly as her eyes opened again. Magic was her only option, but as things stood, it would be too much of a danger to the ponies below, she couldn't put anyone in Ponyville at risk for her own past mistakes. A plan soon came to mind, before she cracked a small smile.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" the dark alicorn remarked, this comment proved to strike a nerve with Luna alone, her eye twitching a tiny bit at the tone of her dark half's voice.

"Bite your tongue."

"Oooh, feisty, aren't we Luna?" she gasped, as if pretending to be surprised. "Or are you just eager to get back to Canterlot...for some loving?" The princess' cheeks began to burn as the dark alicorn spoke. How did she know about Emerald? Needless to say though, her dark half only worked to make her a bit flustered, her mental focus now splitting a tiny bit between thoughts of Emerald and strategy. She soon shook it off however, bringing her focus back to what was before her, wanting to save that for a victory celebration.

"I said, bite your tongue!" Luna shouted, feeling the urge to use the Royal Canterlot Voice beginning to surface again as her anger began to well up. She exhaled again, before inhaling deeply in attempts to calm herself, anger wasn't something she needed at the present moment. "I am simply here to talk for a moment." This is where she began, a rather devious smile spreading across her face. "I know you want my power, however, I won't give it to you unless you do something for me first."

"And that is?" the dark princess enquired, attempting to hold back her own evil grin.

"Leave Ponyville, and leave all the ponies in it, unharmed." This was her chance, her chance to gain true power, the power to overthrow Celestia, and even the King and Queen.

"Done." This was a relief for Luna, knowing that her subjects would be safe from any possible harm, or at least the ones in Ponyville. Before she realized it however, she had trotted right into her dark half's hooves, as a simple hoof gesture gave away everything. In mere seconds she found herself surrounded by three shadow ponies. However, unlike the previous ones they seemed different. They were larger than normal pegasi shadows, upon closer inspection she took note of the fact that they were in fact alicorns. This was the last thing she saw before everything began to fade, pain overtaking every fiber of her being. "Burn it to the ground!" was the last thing the princess heard.


	17. Luna's Rage Part 2

Chapter 17

By the time Emerald had stepped out of the library, it was too late. The sight he was met with was absolutely horrific to him, heartbreaking to say the least. Fear began to fill every inch of his being as his heart began to race. At least, it began as fear. Fear for the princess, fear for all of Equestria, but worst of all, fear for the one he loved. In his heart he could feel an agonizing twinge of pain that gradually spread throughout the rest of his body. It was a sickening feeling as he watched Luna be carried off by Nightmare Moon. He wanted to scream, he wanted to fight, but he found himself completely frozen in fear. What if he hit Luna by accident? It wasn't a risk he was willing to take, especially given that there were three shadow alicorns around them.

As they flew off in the direction of the Everfree Forest, the forest green unicorn's legs pushed him forward solely on instinct in attempts to chase them down. That was, until he took notice of one of the shadow alicorns breaking away, turning to land on the ground. Before it could realize what was about to happen, Emerald charged in a pure blind fury. By this time his horn had begun to glow, charging a powerful magic attack in it. He withheld the attack though as he dived at the shadow, forcing it to the ground with his bare hooves.

"Where are you taking Luna!?" he roared at the top of his lungs, pressing his hoof at the creature's throat. Unlike the ones from before however, this one seemed different. It seemed to be articulate, intelligent. The unicorn could see it in the creature's dark red eyes, even though they appeared soulless, they weren't. They truly seemed alive. This sent a shiver up his spine as he gazed into them, his own eyes filled with rage. It seemed unfazed as it stared back, its expression completely blank.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The voice from the shadow was that of a stallion's, a very deep tone, very strong. What agitated Emerald however, was his very arrogant tone, this only seemed to make him press his hooves even tighter on the throat of the shadow alicorn. It didn't seem to phase him however, as a soft, yet very arrogant chuckle came from his mouth. "You know, while I'm a physical being...I don't need the same things you need to survive." The unicorn's eyes seemed to widen as he felt a powerful force throw him from the shadow figure's body, causing him to roll on the ground. "My kind doesn't feel pain, we don't feel hunger, we don't feel...anything...we don't need anything to survive...we just merely have to...exist." He slowly closed his eyes as he climbed to his feet, taking a step toward the shadow alicorn.

"Just because you don't feel anything...doesn't mean I won't MAKE YOU!" Recklessly, he charged again, this time his horn was poised for a full on blast. The initial charge was easily avoided, as in his rage, Emerald was unfortunately blinded. All the shadow simply had to do was sidestep to avoid the attack, he was caught off guard however, by the unicorn's sudden shift. He skidded across the ground, the snow slowing his movements a tiny bit before he turned to aim his horn. A brilliant green blast erupted from the tip, this sent the shadow alicorn straight into the air, freezing for a moment, before he once again descended back to the ground, with nothing more than a few simple scratches on his cheek.

"You're weak..." the shadow mumbled, taking a step toward Emerald, who took a step back in response. "I assumed from what Master had told us and from what I saw on the battlefield...you'd be the strongest of your brothers...I assumed wrong." More fear shot through the unicorn's body has he listened to this, that hadn't been his strongest attack, it had instead been a spell he had just recently found on banishing shadows. He had hoped that it would've worked against the creature, but it was to no avail. Had Nightmare Moon gotten strong enough to manifest something similar to living creatures? How is it a shadow was this strong? Better yet, how was it that this particular one could talk? Emerald found himself unable to contemplate these questions further unfortunately as he found himself surrounded in what seemed like an instant by at least twenty shadow ponies. Most of these particular shadows took on the forms of unicorns, all of which seemed a bit stronger then they had been before. He took another step back as he was faced with these odds, now knowing full well he was outmatched now. They could sense his fear, it was evident by the fact that they matched his step. As their hoof moved forward, the unicorn's resolve began to weaken. He took another step back, his very eyes showing the terror he felt in every part of his body. Had he been younger, he would've probably run away by now, however, something held him in place as he stared down the shadows.

Just then, a very gentle and warm breeze wafted over his being. This breeze sent a chill up his spine, which was unusual, especially for a warm breeze. The feeling that followed the chill felt very inviting, soothing...and strangely familiar. Emerald slowly closed his eyes as he felt the breeze, letting it soothe his fears and worries. When his eyes reopened, he began to take notice of a lingering presence, the very same one that he had felt on the breeze.

"Leave them..." a voice called out, his ears perked up the moment he heard it, a sensation of great desire overcoming his muscles. Once again, it seemed very familiar to him, yet, he couldn't put his hoof on where he had heard it before. He nodded very slowly, understanding what the voice meant. He shouldn't be wasting time here, dealing with these things, instead he should be chasing after Nightmare Moon. From a look of dread, to one of peace. The shadows seemed to grow worried as they saw his expression change. They hadn't felt the breeze, nor had they heard the voice. However they could all sense the lingering presence in the air.

"Sir, I..." one of the unicorn shadows tried to speak up, but the alicorn shadow prevented him from continuing. He stood his ground, taking a step toward Emerald, not caring for any lingering presence, before finally leaping at him. Caught off guard, Emerald froze for a moment before he was able to sidestep away from the creature's path. The next thing the shadow alicorn knew, the unicprn's hoof came flying up, striking him in the jaw, harder than he had previously. This sent him flying back into the small group he had created, they caught him however, brining the creature back to his feet.

"Still have some fight, eh?" he asked, wiping the blood from his mouth. A blood red aura began to envelope his horn from this point along with the rest of the group he had manifested, from the tip of his horn several others sprang, more mist, more shadow ponies. The numbers quickly began to grow from twenty, to sixty, then well over a hundred at least. Emerald's confidence dropped as he watched, unable to react from simple fear. He knew if he did, it would be over for him in an instant, given the ever-increasing numbers. The last of his hope faded along with his confidence as the numbers soon began to reach well past two hundred.

"Now...is the time..." the mysterious voice whispered to him again.

_'But...what about...?' _he attempted to respond.

The voice however, cut him off, as if anticipating what he was going to ask. "Do not worry about Ponyville, I shall take care of them myself, just go save the princess." The voice itself seemed together, its tone changing from soothing and gentle, to one of the utmost seriousness. His eyes seemed to widen as the wind began to pick up, any small clouds in the sky seemed to vanish with it as the lingering presence seemed to take form right before their eyes. It occurred in a bright green flash, as if a unicorn had teleported amongst them. The teleportation itself seemed to cause a shockwave intentionally, sending the various shadows back a few steps, this caused confusion among them as Emerald himself remained unaffected. Before him stood a cloaked unicorn, he could tell already. Beneath it, he saw a luscious green coat, similar to the color of grass, and while the cloak covered a majority of the unicorn's body, he could also tell by the figure that it was a mare, the legs alone gave her away. What caught his attention the most though, was the fact she had a long and very beautiful, shimmering silver mane. It was one he recognized instantly, his heart stopped as he laid his eyes on it. Could it really be her? After all these years, why now? Why here? Why would she choose here of all places to make an appearance? Why would she choose now of all times to make an appearance? Was it because he was in danger? He didn't even need to think twice on the identity of the unicorn, just her very presence made his eyes water with pure happiness. He wanted to embrace her, yet he wanted to yell at her for what she did all those years ago.

"Mother...?" was the only word he could force himself to say at this point, with her identity revealed, her hood lowered, revealing her full mane and face. The mare's expression was very gentle and calm, she had a smile that seemed to ease the stallion's worries, like a mother's smile should. The shadows were taken aback by the latest development. This was before they cracked up laughing, thinking that the mare couldn't stand up to them if Emerald couldn't.

"I'm sorry..." she said, turning to her son. "I just hope I can make up for leaving you and your brothers..."

He smiled as she spoke, already finding an understanding in her, as he could see that doing what she had done did leave her broken-hearted. It was just by the very tone of her voice that he could see it. "Already forgiven..." he replied, her smile returning rather quickly. She quickly turned her attention back to the shadows, who had already gathered themselves from the incessant laughter.

"I'll handle everything in Ponyville from here, you go save Luna." she ordered, gesturing her hoof. Emerald nodded in understanding, but before he could do anything, a shadow unicorn dived at him. This proved fruitless however as he vanished in a flurry of leaves. This lead to quite a bit of confusion as the leaves obstructed the view of the various shadows. A smirk spread across the mare's face as she lowered her head.

"So, you'll 'handle' everything here?" the shadow alicorn asked with a tone of arrogance. "How do you expect to do that? Your son was too scared to even fight back most of the time!" She giggled very softly at his arrogance, before a very bright green flash, along with several blood curdling wails came from the streets of Ponyville. The bright light only lasted for an instant, but when it faded, the shadow alicorn stood alone. His question had been answered in about five seconds, true fear seemed to envelop him at this point as the mare took a step forward. He could only take a step back in response, terrified for his own life at the new prospect of facing this mare. How is it possible that she was that powerful? She was at least on par with the princesses, yet, she appeared to be just a common pony. As he backed away from her she took another step forward, her eyes filled with rage.

"You come into a small town, you instill fear in the citizens, you assault my children and an innocent mare...and now here you stand, cowering in fear for your own life." she muttered, her horn lighting up in a very bright green color. "You call my son weak, you assume I'm weak, a**nd you even attempt to break a promise made to get Princess Luna to come with you!" **The very land seemed to shake as she began to speak her voice also seeming to change. Her eyes even began to glow a similar green color to the aura that enveloped her horn. **"You threaten the royal family, you threaten the very balance of this land!" **The mare's voice echoed at this point, it appeared that she even knew how to use the Royal Canterlot voice, which was something once thought reserved for royalty, but at this point it became a mystery as to how she was able to perform it, at least, for now. By this time, the alicorn shadow was cowering with his hooves over his head at the mare's hooves. He bowed to her in respect and fear, begging for his 'life'.

"P-please spare me!" he stuttered, now in tears.

"**WHY SHOULD I! YOU'RE JUST A SHADOW BEING CREATED BY MAGIC!"** By this point, her voice was booming, it was nothing compared to Luna's or even Celestia's, but it was still up there, enough to make a normal pony shudder at the mere sound of it. She only smiled, lowering to her head, the aura enveloping her horn vanishing as her voice returned to normal. "This is the part where you run away." she whispered, her words were well heeded. As the alicorn scrambled to his feet, before taking to the skies in terror. Before he got very far however, he was met with a blast of magic to the back, which caused him to vanish. She huffed with a smile on her face, before letting out a sigh, finally showing her exhaustion. "I hate using the Canterlot Voice spell..."

Carried by the wind, Emerald found himself galloping at top speed through the Everfree Forest. His teleportation spell had proved helpful, getting him to the edge, but he couldn't teleport from then on, as he needed all the strength he could get. He was driven, adrenaline was flowing through every inch of his body as he galloped through the forest, caring little for any obstacles that he met. His prime focus was getting to Luna before it was too late. Even if she was stripped of her magic, he had to at least save her life, that was the most important thing to him. Was it his duty to protect her? Yes, it was. Even though it was his duty, another part of him was now driving him. It brought the unicorn a strength he had never felt before. The strength he found came from within rather than on the outside, from his heart. He knew no one else would be able to help Luna now, perhaps his mother when she can get here, however, until that time, he would have to manage on his own.

He soon came to the rickety bridge before the forgotten castle, this made him slow down for a moment, to ensure the bridge's stability. The river hadn't caused him too many problems as he had just leapt across a few rocks that he had found. However, the bridge was the real problem, he didn't know just how stable it could really be, so it made him nervous as he took his first step onto it. Right away, his ears detected a bit of wood cracking which made him lift his hoof back onto solid ground. He gulped as he stared at the rickety bridge, attempting to gather his courage to walk across it. For a moment, he had forgotten the very reason why he was out in the forest as he gazed at the bridge, that was, until he heard Luna's scream. The instant she screamed, from which he could figure was from frustration, his fear left him, and he galloped right across the bridge. His legs carried him faster than he had ever moved before, with all of the magic he had used, as well as the galloping and leaping, it was a surprise he still had strength to even walk by the time he crossed the bridge. He didn't even stop to take a breath, he only cared about Luna's safety.

Luna had been chained up for a time, it felt familiar, as if she recalled it from the deepest recesses of her mind. It was a dreadful experience as her body lay on the cold stone floor, chains around her ankles and wings. She began to panic as she came into the darkness of the room, struggling with the chains around her body. These chains limited her movement significantly, they not only hindered her movement, they also caused her a significant amount of pain as she shifted around on the floor. The cuffs chaffed against her coat at first, before digging deep into her flesh which made her cry out. Tears began to stream from her eyes as she struggled, before a realization hit her: she still had magic! She closed her eyes as she inhaled a very deep breath, letting the energy well up in her body, traveling to her horn very quickly, however it stopped there, as she attempted to force it out, to little avail as a very tiny blue spark just fizzled from the tip. How was this possible? She was a goddess! As she exhaled, her frustration only grew as she lowered her horn closer to her hoof. What she felt made her jaw simply drop, before finally letting out a scream that would pierce the walls.

"I see you've discovered my little...present to you." Nightmare Moon's voice called out. A door swung open as she stood at the entrance, snickering with delight. "Now, shall we begin?" The door soon slammed behind the dark alicorn, and another scream could be heard, this one of agony, even louder than the one from before.

Emerald had heard the second scream as he entered the castle, busting down the very doors with pure brute force alone. This proved to be beneficial for him as the doors had crashed into a large crowd of shadows, dispelling them in an instant. Without hesitation he charged in, his horn aglow. Bright green tendrils seemed to seep out from the tip of his horn as he charged in, whipping around the various shadows, dispelling most of them in a fairly short amount of time, clouds of black mist raising to the ceiling of the building before dispersing. The damage he was doing was significant, as he also fired various blasts of magic, fueled by his anger. His worries seemed to vanish as he proved to himself that he could handle this just like Silver or his mother could. As the drive forward continued, he began to combine his magic with his hooves, striking various shadows, sending them crashing into each other and while he had taken a few hits already, with the amount of adrenaline pumping through every inch of his body, he felt absolutely nothing except his own determination. It was astonishing to the shadows that one unicorn could handle so much.

"STOP HIM!" shouted one of the alicorn generals, as several more charged at him. Others simply backed away in cowardice, taking this time to flee instead of fight. Emerald even went to the point of picking up one of the shadows and throwing them at one of the generals. It was surprising just how strong he was now. The general growled as he moved back up to his hooves, nearly all of his troops having vanished now, all because of one unicorn.

Said unicorn stared down the general, his eyes filled with determination and pure, unbridled fury. "Where. Is. Luna?" he asked, his tone very stern, his hoof stomping onto the stone floor.

"You're too late, by now, Mistress Moon has already absorbed her power!" Emerald didn't like this answer, in his rage, his horn began to glow even brighter than it had before, a large blast erupting from it, expanding around the remaining shadows as he let out a scream. The sphere of energy enveloped the remaining shadows, only lasting for a few moments before vanishing. Where all the remaining shadows had stood, several plants now stood and a tree where the alicorn had, the roots of which pierced the stone. As the blast faded, he panted heavily, taking a misstep to regain his footing. Dizziness wasn't that fun, nor was exhaustion, imagine what both must be like together. This is what Emerald found himself thinking about for a moment before shaking his head.

'Focus!' his mind screamed, 'Luna still needs me!' Before he could make another move however, he found his body becoming weightless, and his form being flung across the room with what felt like little effort. Everything went black here for him as he struck the stone wall. It had been a rather hard impact as he left an impression of his body on the wall before falling to the ground. His hoof rested on his head as he pulled himself to his feet. By this time the adrenaline rush had worn off as he had used most of it in the fight previous. What he faced now left him even more terrified than he had been back in Ponyville. Nightmare Moon. She had changed however, her body had become a bit larger, her horn a bit longer, and he could even sense the pure power radiating from her body. She had done it, she had absorbed Luna's magic, he had failed in protecting her. He came to a resolution however in his brief bout if dismay, that he still has to fight. Even if it kills him. Once back on his hooves, he attempted to make a move, only to feel an even greater amount of pain shoot up his spine, enough to cripple him again, causing him to fall back to the ground with his hoof on his back.

"So...this is what you're reduced to." she muttered, steadily approaching him.

'Perhaps she hasn't had time to adjust to her new power...maybe if I...' his thoughts paused for a moment as he felt himself becoming weightless again, the dark alicorn had used her magic to lift up his very body, this was a rare occurrence even among telekinesis, it required a significant amount of strength and here she was doing it with very little effort. This instilled even more terror into his being as he was forced to gaze into her eyes.

"I could've handled you back then, now that I think about it." she cooed, flinging him across the room, using her left hoof has a guide. He rolled across the ground, feeling the agony shoot through his body with each simple movement. He had to do something, otherwise he knew he'd die here. "I'm glad I didn't though...because I'm going to use you as my test dummy!"

His screams of agony could be heard throughout the castle as it begun. Even from the dungeon, Luna could hear them, yet she was helpless to really do anything. She had been drained of every bit of magic she had in her body, except the bare minimum. She was back to as she was when she first returned to her true self. Her coat had changed, become a lighter shade of blue, and even her mane had reverted to its sky blue color. After she had been drained, the chains had proved useless to her dark half, so they had been removed because she wasn't a threat. What really broke her spirit however, was the fact that she couldn't even help the one she loved. His screams only seemed to bring her a broken heart. Tears ran down her face as she buried it into her hooves. That was, until she felt another hoof on her chin, the touch was enough to get her attention as she slowly gazed upward at a blurred figure that stood over her. At first, in the dim light she couldn't really make out who it was, yet, the hoof...it felt...calming.

"Luna...Why are you crying?" the figure said to her.

"Because...I..."

"Shhh..." the lunar princess soon felt a hoof on her mouth, not that she cared by this time. "Pull yourself together...you're much stronger than this, who was it that lead the assault on Discord's palace?" Luna's eyes could only grow wide as she heard this, the tears virtually vanishing from where they had fallen. As her vision cleared up, the figure came into better view and she was faced with somepony she didn't recognize in the least, yet, her features seemed to be familiar. The forest green coat and the long silver mane especially. The realization struck her in an instant as she gazed back into the mare's deep brown eyes.

"You're...Emerald's mother!" she nearly shouted in shock.

"Yes...I am, however, that's an unimportant detail for now." she stated. "What's important now is, my son is in trouble, and you're the only one who can save him." The princess lowered her head in defeat immediately, turning away from the unicorn mare.

"I...can't..." the unicorn shook her head in disappointment.

"Princess Luna! Look at yourself!" She shouted, raising her voice a tiny bit. "Look what's become of you! Has one thousand years of banishment really changed you that much! Do you really want your regret and guilt stop you from being who you really are?!" The mare stomped her hoof on the stone, leaving an impression on it as if to express her own power. "Between you and your sister, who's the better fighter!?" Luna seemed to pause as she heard this, her ears lowering along with her head.

"...I am..."

"You once said to Starswirl that training was your favorite pass time!" Something seemed to snap in the princess' mind as she heard this, her pupils dilating. Something had awoken in her, something that hadn't been seen in over a thousand years. As if on instinct she pulled herself to her hooves, a fire in her eyes like she hadn't had before. While it would be new to some, to those who knew about it, it was a familiar, it was the true Princess Luna. With the help of the mare, she was able to get back on all fours, before turning to her.

"You're right, thank you." The tone of the princess' voice changed here, going from its gentle, yet wise tone. To the tone a warrior's voice often has. Beneath the chest plate she wore with her crest on it, a faint glowing could be seen, as if responding to her own flame being reignited. This seemed to spark a physical change as well, as magic began to swirl around her, seeming to return to her body. Luna's mane seemed to undergo a change in seconds, becoming like it had before, along with her coat returning to its original hue. Magic swirled around her horn as well as she vanished with a pop. The sight she came upon was a horrific one to say the least, by this time the screaming had ceased, and Emerald could be seen lying on the stone floor, blood dripping from several cuts on his body. This sent the princess into a rage, however, she remained as calm as she could, just quietly walking onto the scene.

"Leave Emerald alone." Luna said to Nightmare Moon, who had begun gathering magic in her horn for a finishing blow. Before she could launch it however, the sound of her light half's voice made her freeze. How could it be? She had her magic drained from her! It wasn't possible, nay it wasn't probable either! To her shock, her light half had even regained her full strength, having taken on the appearance of having her full power. Without thinking, she continued to charge the finishing blow, taking careful aim on the battered and beaten unicorn. Before she could strike however, the dark alicorn felt a blow to the chin, one that was even stronger than one of Silver's strikes.

"**I said...LEAVE. EMERALD. ALONE!" **Luna's Canterlot voice seemed stronger than before, shaking the very foundation of the castle, even shattering all of the windows, leaving just piles of stained glass behind. She had been warned, now it was too late for Nightmare Moon as her light half took advantage of the moment of being stunned to strike again. Luna's attacks were relentless, first a left hook with her hoof, then an uppercut, before slamming both on the top of her head. She spun around, using her back legs to buck her dark half, sending her flying into the stone walls. The dark alicorn grunted in pain as she fell from the wall, before a sensation of weightlessness overcame her. She knew what this meant now, it was the same tactic she had used against Emerald, she was once again flung against a wall, this one the opposite of where she had taken off from, but instead of just leaving an impression, her head had gone through the stone wall completely, opening it to the next room, before being flung against the opposite wall again, this time shattering that wall. Silence ensued after this, as she made an attempt to get up on her hooves. This attempt was prevented by her light half however, by another strike to the chin. **"THAT IS FOR NEARLY KILLING OUR SISTER!"**

"G-go...L-Luna..." Emerald cheered weakly, as his head flopped back onto the ground.

"**THIS IS FOR STARSWIRL!"** Luna's next strike came as a roundhouse kick from one of her back legs, which sent Nightmare Moon rolling across the room limply, before she attempted to get back on her feet. **"THIS IS FOR THE INNOCENT PONIES THAT YOU HARMED AND KILLED!" **Her Canterlot voice continued to echo throughout the castle, as the dark alicorn continued to take a beating, this time being thrown into another stone wall. **"THIS IS FOR THE CRESCENT FAMILY! FOR THEIR SACRIFICES TO PROTECT US!" **The next strike was a magic one, a blast that caused her to go flying through several walls, only to land just on the outside of the castle, where Luna fluttered gently, landing on the ground gracefully.

"L-Luna...Please...we're...l-like sisters!" Nightmare Moon cried, now knowing that she was in trouble. "Y-You wouldn't kill your own sister, would you?"

"**THIS IS FOR EMERALD!"** Luna roared, breaking the silence again by sending her barreling into the sky. Magic began to gather in Luna's horn, a bright glow beginning to illuminate her body. **"AND THIS IS JUST FOR PISSING US OFF!" **This was the last thing Nightmare Moon had heard before a blast engulfed her, she tried to scream, but no sound would come. Magic began to erupt from the dark alicorn's body, before the final explosion. Left behind was just a floating pool of magic, which seemed to fly right back into the Lunar princess. After which, she gently landed back onto the ground with a sigh of relief. "That...felt...so good..." she muttered, tilting her head to her left to crack it.

"Luna!" a voice shouted from the castle. It was in this moment, reality hit her.

"Emerald!" She leapt back through the remnants of the window, galloping over to his side. What she saw upon closer inspection just about made her vomit. He had a few deep wounds over most of his body where he was bleeding out. Even though she didn't know much about modern medicine, she could clearly tell that he had several fractures in his legs, in at least three of them, but at least he was in one piece, which was the only good thing she saw aside from the fact he was still breathing. Before tears could even form in her eyes, the princess felt a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to turn to the mare that had helped her before.

"He doesn't have much time left..." she whispered, "We have to get him to a hospital." Even she looked heart-broken, Luna could see that. After all, this mare was his mother, and she knew it was a mother's duty to watch over their children.

"I can teleport...!"

"No, basic teleportation spells with guests and luggage are far too risky...even though you're a goddess and you've regained your full strength, one of the teleportation spells could throw his body into shock, which will kill him." the mare explained, letting out a soft sigh. "And flight is out of the question too, there wouldn't be enough time either." Luna's heart sank as she listened, shifting her attention between the mare and Emerald.

"Then...what do we do?"

"You...don't do anything." she replied, "I'll take him to the hospital."

"But...!"

Once again, the mare cut her off by pressing her hoof to Luna's mouth. "I need you to head back to the library to inform everyone of what happened...I'll meet you at Ponyville Hospital, be sure to bring everyone involved in this matter." The princess found herself in a bind, on one hoof she wanted to stay with Emerald to ensure that he would pull through, but on the other, she wanted to trust his mother's word. After a few moments she nodded, accepting the decision, all the while praying that her stallion would pull through.


	18. The True Climax

Chapter 18

Against her better judgement, Luna had followed the orders given to her by Emerald's mother and found herself flying back to Ponyville in an absolute panic. It was visible in her eyes especially as she flew frantically in the direction of the town. She flapped her wings, pushing her body as fast as it would go, this allowed her to move at speeds that would even impress the Wonderbolts, not that she cared though. Each second that passed, she grew increasingly more worried about Emerald as visions of his ravaged, limp and lifeless body rest before her eyes. She winced at the image that flashed through her mind, a single tear moving down her cheek as she thought. She couldn't bare the thought of loosing him, of loosing someone she loved dearly again.

'No!' A voice screamed in her head. 'I won't think like this! He's in good hands, his mother won't let him die, I know it!' The motivational words proved only to invigorate her a bit more, causing her flight speed to pick up. As she was flying however, a rather embarrassing thought crossed her mind. Why was she flying when she can simply just teleport to save time? Her cheeks began to burn at her own embarrassment as she thought about this factor. She had rushed out so quickly from the castle after the forest green mare had left with Emerald that she had forgotten that she could teleport back to the library. She slowly closed her eyes as she flew, thankfully flying higher than all of the trees in the forest, once she did she dug into her vast well of newfound strength. It was here she froze in midair, now simply hovering just above the forest as she felt out all of her magic. She was astonished at how much of a difference it made having regained the energy she lost from Nightmare Moon. It felt like she could do anything at this point! Even teleport herself back to Canterlot or even across Equestria with absolutely no effort at all! This wasn't important right now however as she focused her mind first on where she wanted to go before magic began to gather at the tip of her horn, gradually spreading. The energy spread throughout the rest of her body faster than it ever has, filling her with a very warm feeling before she felt her body vanish completely from its present location.

With a simple, yet very loud 'pop' she vanished from just over the Everfree Forest, reappearing inside the library. She was caught off guard by how off her aim was, she had been shooting for the balcony, but none the less, she had found her target. To everypony's shock, another 'pop' occurred the instant she reappeared, by this time, Silver had just gotten back on his hooves, standing right next to the bed he had been resting on, brushing himself off when Luna reappeared. Both Adamant and Crimson were standing by his side, while Twilight attempted to argue that he stay in bed. They all went silent however as Luna made her appearance. The alicorn stallion was the first to take note of Emerald's absence, a worried look spreading across every inch of his face, Adamant, Crimson and Twilight soon followed.

"What happened? Where's Emerald?" All four of them seemed to ask simultaneously. "Is Emerald alive?" Silver's voice rang out above everyone else's. "What about Nightmare Moon? Where is she?" Adamant asked. As they continued to ask an assortment of questions, Luna could feel the pressure growing as well as her concern for Emerald, a few hairs on her mane beginning to stand up in her panic. From left to right, her eyes shifted, looking at everyone as they 'surrounded' her with their barrage of questions. It soon became too much for her, causing the princess to bring her hooves up to her ears and head to block everyone out for a second. Once she was able to relax from their endless questions, she snapped to her senses.

"**ENOUGH! ONE AT A TIME!"** Luna's Canterlot voice boomed, her mane and eyes even flaring up as she shouted. Everypony froze the instant they heard this voice, even Silver, who was quite obviously shaken up the most. "Let me explain everything that happened as far as I know it." This seemed to settle them, as they all nodded. Before long, the princess went on to tell her story, starting from when she was captured, all the way to her merciless beating of Nightmare Moon and of course telling Silver and his other siblings that their mother was nearby. As they listened to the story, they learned nearly everything they possibly could, it was startling at how detailed Luna could be in her story-telling. When they reached the part involving her despair they too began to lose hope, that was until they heard the words of encouragement the mother of the four brothers gave her, as well as the significant boost in strength. "...She helped me realize just how much I love Emerald, which is where I drew my strength from. How I was able to get up on my hooves again and fight..." were her words, everypony smiled as they heard this, especially Silver, who seemed to be close to tears by this point in the story. This was something that caught Twilight's attention right away, she hadn't seen a stallion ever show that much of his sensitive side, but she had read about it. This only intrigued her more about love. Perhaps she'd have to read some of the romance novels she had in the library to find out what romance was really like? That was for another time though, as her attention returned to Princess Luna to continue listening to the story. Everypony's jaw dropped as she informed them about Emerald's injuries however, it made them almost immediately want to gallop past her, and head to the castle where the fight had taken place.

"How could you just leave him there Luna?!" Silver shouted from anger, "You love him, yet, you left him there! Why?" She only cleared her throat, bringing her hoof up to silence him.

"You didn't let me finish." Luna stated. "Your mother told me she'd take care of him and I trust her."

"You mean...Mother's in town?!" he roared, this time even louder than before. Luna only nodded in response.

"Where at?" Adamant inquired, as all three of the remaining brothers' excitement seemed to grow at the prospect of seeing their mother again.

"She's probably at the hospital by now, with Emerald." came her reply and without so much as a warning, the brothers galloped off without so much as another word. Leaving just Luna and Twilight alone. "Aren't you going to go with us to find out if Emerald is okay?" the lavender unicorn turned away from the princess for a moment, with a bit of a blush on her cheeks.

"I don't think it would be appropriate if I joined you...it seems more like a family affair to me." she replied, smiling at the princess. "Plus, I really need to catch up on my studies and let myself recover from that fight." Luna nodded in understanding.

"I understand, Twilight." the princess said, "But, if you're going to stay here, would you mind doing a favor for me?" Twilight's ears perked up at the mentioning of a 'favor'. "Well, a few actually."

"What would they be, Princess?" she asked.

"Write my sister, inform her of what happened, and have her send a carriage in a few days, with a medical team to ensure Emerald can make the journey." Luna's tone grew a bit more worried by this point, as she turned to the door.

"Of course, Princess."

"Now...if you'll excuse me, I must go check on Emerald's condition." was the last thing she said, before another 'pop' was heard, and she had vanished.

Just as the brothers were arriving at the hospital, fighting their way in through the front doors they took notice of a certain princess standing at the desk. How had she beaten them there? They had left before her! Silver's eyes narrowed for a moment before a thought crossed his mind and he inwardly smacked himself for not thinking of it in the first place. She teleported! He could've done the same, except for one little detail, he hadn't fully recovered from fighting Nightmare Moon, so his magic was rather limited at the time. He wouldn't dare risk teleporting himself and ending up worse off than he was before. The three galloped up to Luna's side as she spoke with the mare standing at the reception desk.

"Did a severely injured unicorn stallion and a forest green mare with a silver mane check in just recently?" Luna asked, her gaze not averting from the mare behind the desk. She lifted up the clipboard with her hooves, looking over it for a second, before returning to Luna, only to take notice of the three stallions standing behind her.

"Are they with you?" she asked, the princess only nodded, not needing to look back as she knew who the mare was talking about. "And yes, they did check in. Surprisingly, the stallion's injuries aren't that severe, while he's still unconscious, his condition is stable, it even looks as though some of his injuries had been healed up."

Silver's eyes widened when he heard this. 'When did mom learn how to heal?' he thought, 'Has she become stronger since we saw her?' He didn't hesitate for a second, before placing his hoof on the desk. "Which room was the stallion taken to? And where is the mare?" the alicorn suddenly asked.

"She was asked to take him to room..." the mare once again paused, looking over the sheet again. "Nine...they're in room nine, the mare hasn't left either, however I can only allow immediate family in to see them, as that's what was requested from the mare."

"But I am...!" Luna tried to say, before Silver cut her off.

"She is family, she's our brother's lover, and you have to let her in to see him, it might even speed up his recovery." the alicorn stallion said. "And our little brother's recovery is very important." the receptionist's face remained the same for a few moments, before cracking a smile.

"You may also go, Princess." she said, before everyone made a mad dash down the hall to the room previously mentioned. Upon entering, they came to a rather painful sight as they saw Emerald laid up in bed covered in quite a few bandages, with casts over three of his legs. Luna bursted into tears the instant she saw him, while nearby, the forest green mare trotted up to her three sons, pulling them from the room to give the princess some alone time with their brother.

The initial reaction of seeing their mother was to embrace her rather tightly, but she withheld them, using her hoof to keep a distance until she had closed the door behind her. Giving the two the utmost in privacy. Once this had occurred, she lowered her hoof, and all three of the brothers shouted, each taking turns embracing their mother.

"Its good to see you three." she whispered as she first embraced Silver, giving him a motherly kiss on the cheek, which only proved to embarrass him. "My, you've grown big since I last saw you, Silver..." She gazed softly at him, looking rather proud. "Hold on, I have something for you." for a moment she paused, before raising her hoof to smack him straight across the face. "That is for leaving Celestia without saying a word!" The contact wasn't too hard, but a rather loud contact sound could be heard throughout the halls. To say the least, the alicorn was shocked that his mother even knew, he hadn't told anyone and he didn't think Celestia did either, but then again, that was their mother, even when they hadn't seen her in years, she still somehow knew about everything in their lives.

"How did you...?" he was about to ask, before she grinned.

"Mother knows all." she remarked, "You didn't think I wouldn't just leave you behind, I have been keeping up with how your lives have turned out. You're my boys after all and a mother has to keep watch over her children." Silver only blushed at this, his ears lowering in a bit of shame. She eventually moved on, embracing Crimson next with a proud smile on her face. "Good job on becoming a Wonderbolt, but next time, try to mind your behavior and you might not get kicked out." The pegasus rubbed the back of his head as she said this, chucking nervously. She turned her attention to Adamant after this, embracing him as well. The size difference between her and the earth pony was significant, but neither seemed to mind as she patted him on the back. "Good job on the restaurant, I wish I had gotten to eat there before you sold it...I wish I could've at least tasted your cooking."

"Feel free to stop by my home anytime, I live just on the edge of..." he tried to say, before she stopped him.

"I already know you live near the Everfree Forest, I'm sorry I haven't gotten a chance to visit you yet, but I will as soon as I can." she said, before taking a few steps back to look at her children again. A smile slowly moving across her face. "I'm proud of all of you, you've become very fine stallions, especially Emerald." a few tears began to form in her eyes, tears of joy, however she blinked them back. Without a second thought, her horn began to glow, before she used it to pull her three sons into a hug with her. They didn't argue at all, in fact, they all smiled as it was their first family hug in years. "I love you all." she said, pulling away from the embrace. "No matter how much trouble you seem to cause." With that last line, her gaze shifted slowly over to Silver, who gained a bit of a nervous smile.

"And we love you too, mom." they all said, trying to hide their embarrassment, hoping that no one had seen what had just occurred.

Meanwhile, in the hospital room, Luna found herself looking over Emerald's badly injured body, attempting to fight back her tears. She was ashamed of herself for not stepping in sooner. She could've easily prevented these injuries had she acted sooner. The tears soon began to fall from her eyes as she lowered herself near him, giving the stallion a kiss on the cheek. He began to stir as her warm lips made contact, her falling tears also helping to bring him around. A groan of agony came from his throat as his head moved from right to left on the pillow.

"L-Luna?" he asked weakly, his brown orbs gazing up at the princess, he first took note of her tears and with the pain shooting through his body, he knew very well that he was the cause of them. "P-please don't cry..." he whispered, as he made an attempt to lift up his left hoof. Thankfully, it was the closest hoof to her.

"B-but..." she began.

"No buts..." he stated, "I promise you I'll be fine."

"B-but, you almost..." the princess became choked up before the final damn bursted. At this point, she began to cry hysterically, thankfully though it couldn't be heard outside the room. She buried her head into his chest as she continued, this only proved to break the unicorn's heart as he watched her, unable to do much else. "I-I thought I was going to lose you!" she wailed into his chest, which muffled her voice. With his hoof instead of his magic, which he could still use, he lifted her face up. The tears continuing to flow as she wept.

"It'll take much more to get rid of me, Luna." he remarked, his frown turning into a grin of confidence. The princess' own face began to change rather rapidly here, even as the tears fell from her face a smile began to spread, morphing from a frown. It was here where she wrapped her front legs around him, she was sure to be gentle enough to where she wouldn't cause any discomfort, but was still able to get both of her legs around him. All he could do however, was place his only unbroken limb around her and hold her as close as he could. This embrace lasted for quite a long time, or so it seemed, as the two seemed to be rather enjoying it. Once Luna had pulled away though, she leaned down to place a very gentle kiss on his lips. It only lasted for a second, before Emerald finally pulled away, as if wanting to say something.

"What is it?" she asked, with a look of confusion.

"I should've told you this before this battle...in case everything turned out differently." he began, moving his hoof up to her cheek. "Luna...I love you." Her heart fluttered wildly the moment she heard these words. Joy filled every inch of her being. She wanted to cheer from the skies, she wanted to sing, or at least find a way to express the unbridled joy she now felt. Without another word, she once again pulled him into a kiss, this one even more meaningful than the one previous.

"I love you too, Emerald."

Sanity seemed to be impossible for Emerald to keep as he was laid up on Luna's bed. Not that he cared, as he had been spending the past three months resting on this bed. Not only that, Luna had been driving him mad with all the teasing she had been doing. Often coming in to bring him food, but leaving with the tray and a tease. It had started off simple, with her flashing and swaying her luscious hips, this got his attention right away. The instant the princess had realized that the teasing had worked, she only became more elaborate and sexual. Normally he'd try to brush off these mannerisms, however they seemed to happen constantly, especially when she walked in one time wearing a maid outfit, showing off her flank to him for nearly an hour as she 'pretended' to dust.

The worst part of it though, was, he only had one free hoof at the time, and while he'd love to try, he knew it wouldn't feel quite right as he was with her at the same time. So he just simply endured. He had survived the first month with little trouble aside from the sexy maid outfit, but the second month became worse as she became more intimate with her ideas. She would come in at one point or another, to simply cuddle with him, before it lead into something much more. Emerald could clearly see, she was teasing him, and Luna could clearly see he was enjoying it. Both seemed to fight their own urges until he had fully recovered, not wanting to take a risk and make any of his injuries potentially worse by taking their relationship to the next level.

By the end of the third month however, Emerald had already begun to lose what little sanity he had, even though he could walk around and keep the muscles strong, he couldn't really do much else. The loss of his sanity began because of the simple fact he couldn't take a proper shower or bath and this was something he missed dearly. Thankfully though, to prevent him from gaining a rather nasty scent about him, Luna had opted to help give him a sponge bath, which proved to only add to the long list of teasing she had been putting him through. It wouldn't of been so bad, but it was the fact that, each and every time she did it, it aroused him. For some reason, either her touch or her magic seemed to be able to get him going very easy, whether it had been from the incessant teasing she had been doing or something else was beside the point. Each time he would get aroused, she would take it a bit further, by bringing him right to the edge of an orgasm with just a few simple touches. As his sanity slipped from him, he knew he would have to get her back for all of it, and it came on this day. It was on the equinox, the first day of spring, that he would get his casts removed and have one last exam on his legs.

It was three in the afternoon as Emerald trotted through the castle, a very devious smirk on his face as he tried to avoid as many ponies as he could. Thankfully Luna was still sleeping as he made his way to the in-palace medic to get his final exam and casts removed. He was thankful again for this, as he didn't want her knowing just yet that they were coming off today, he wanted it to be a surprise. The hope of the teasing finally being in his favor as he pushed open the door.

"Doc, I'm here." he announced, peeking around the small exam room. This is where he found a dark blue unicorn stallion waiting for him.

"You're late." the stallion said, as he used his magic to hold up a clipboard. "Please, take a seat and we shall get started right away." Emerald did as such, taking a seat on the exam table. Right away the doctor's magic enveloped the cast on his front leg, causing it to peel right off with relative ease, the other two were a bit trickier, but after a few minutes they came right off too. A sigh of relief came from the forest green unicorn as he felt fresh air make contact with the fur and flesh that had been trapped beneath the cast, it felt simply delightful as he almost leapt from the exam table, only to be stopped by the doctor. "Careful Emerald!" he shouted, using his telekinesis to stop him. "And I'm not done yet either, give me a few minutes to examine your legs." he couldn't argue at all, especially given the doctor still had a telekinetic grip on him.

His aura quickly enveloped Emerald's limbs, to be fair it did feel quite awkward and a tiny bit itchy at the same time. While not causing any harm, it caused discomfort, once the aura faded from the limbs however, the doctor cleared his throat. "What is it? Is something wrong?" the forest green unicorn asked as he took note of the doctor tapping his chin with the tip of his quill.

"Oh! Oh no, everything's fine, you've nearly healed completely, you can walk out of here right now." he said.

"Then why do you look so concerned?" Emerald asked, perplexed by the doctor's sudden reaction. "Come on, you can be honest with me." The doctor closed his eyes for a moment, thinking carefully as to how he could put it. The words seemed difficult for him to gather as they remained in place for nearly five minutes, aside from Emerald slowly climbing off the exam table. This is where he noticed something rather odd in his right front leg. It felt a bit weaker than the other two. How could that be? He had worked it properly since it had been out of commission, he had eaten properly and everything. He was positive that he should be properly healed by now, yet he could feel just a twinge of pain in it as he took a step, which caused a limp. It was here that he realized the doctor already knew, making him turn back to the unicorn that had removed his cast.

"I'm sorry...apparently your front, right leg didn't heal as well as we would've liked." he explained. "Its nothing severe, while it did heal completely, it just didn't heal properly...the damage was just far more extensive than I indicated." A pang of rage shot through Emerald at this point. The doctor KNEW about this! Why did he not tell him!? "However, before you yell at me for not telling you, I didn't with good reason, because I had hope that it would heal properly in this time, however, I was wrong." He could only sigh in defeat. The doctor was actually right in this case, nothing can be perfect sometimes.

"Will it cause any trouble?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Well, it shouldn't, as long as you're careful." came the reply. "You'll probably have that limp and maybe a bit of pain for the rest of your life. Unless of course you break it again, however I wouldn't recommend that, because it might just simply make everything worse." Another sigh slipped from Emerald's mouth as he heard this, it wasn't too bad actually, he saw it as more of a battle scar rather than a hinderance, one he'd proudly carry around until the end of his days. He trotted right out of the office with a pleased grin on his face, finally happy that he could walk freely and even take a shower, which would be simply...perfect.

Luna's alarm clock blared in her ears, causing her to shoot awake in attempts to slam her hoof on the clock itself. She knew the time she had set it for, only four in the afternoon, giving her plenty of time to wake up completely before she would raise the moon. For the first time since she had returned to Canterlot, she found the other side of her bed empty as her hoof reached over to embrace her stallion. This only made her frown as she grasped at air and fabric. She wanted to give her stallion an early morning tease, perhaps even take it just a little bit further, but it looks like he had woken up before her. By this time she was already well aware of how incessantly she had been teasing him, but she could see it in his eyes that he was enjoying it. She loved hearing his moans, his groans, his begging and his pleading. Yet, each time she denied him the full pleasure...at least for now. They had both agreed that, the day that he got his casts off would be the day. A day of not only celebration, but also a day they become a true couple...or at least officially make the announcement to Equestria in attempts to clear up some of the rumors floating around.

With the other side of the bed empty, she rolled off her own side, stretching her limbs out very casually before yawning. This proved to perk her up, however, looking in the mirror, she took note of her mane. A simple glance was all she needed before realizing just how badly she needed to get cleaned up. Not a second thought crossed her mind as she trotted over to her personal washroom, with her magic she pushed the door open, still a bit drowsy from having just woken up. She gently set her necklace aside on a counter in the washroom, before her horn lit up. When it did the handles for the bath turned on, and steam quickly filled the room, raising the temperature significantly. Before hopping in, she let the tub fill up with warm water.

What she didn't know however was, hidden just behind the door was Emerald, who had already set his plan into motion. In their shared room, he had closed the curtains to darken it, before setting various candles all over the room, scented. On one of the dressers, he also set a small incense box. Upon lighting all of them, it began to fill the room with a rather fragrant aroma, one that was pleasing for romance. As the last touch, rose petals were strewn all over the floor, forming a pathway to the bed. "Easy..." he whispered as he looked back on his simple work of art. "Time for the last touch."

Luna let out a groan as she sunk into the bathtub, letting the warm water wash everything away from before. It didn't help the fact that she was drowsy either, the warmth only making her want to sleep even more. As she let out another quiet yawn, the lights in the washroom dimmed, this made her shoot up from the water, causing it to splash just outside the tub, not that she cared, her prime focus was on the fact that the door was slowly creaking open. She pulled aside the shower curtain only to have her eyes go wide.

"Y-your casts!" was the first thing she said as Emerald walked inside. When the door was completely open, the strong scent of lavender and strawberries wafted into the room. The scents overpowered the moisture and only added to the now increasing heat of the room. Luna's jaw dropped as her senses took in everything, what hit her hardest though was that look on his face. She couldn't even describe it so much as she seemed entranced by it. It seemed serious, yet...it also seemed so seductive. She knew what it meant right away, he was going to pay her back for all the teasing. She didn't mind it at all, in fact, this is what she had hoped for. All she could do was smirk in return as if giving him a go.

This was perfect, too perfect. Very gently, he took ahold of the princess' hoof, guiding her from the tub, while pulling the drain as well with his telekinesis. Once out of the tub, he pulled her into one of the most passion-filled kisses she had ever experienced, taking charge right away. It was filled with a great amount of lust and love as Luna felt herself being pushed against the wall. This was a first as his hooves moved over her body very gently, she fought against the urges that had been building in the pit of her stomach to prevent a premature move. She had given him full control by this time, letting his tongue force its way into her awaiting mouth. Already he was sending her into sweet mental bliss, having been longing for a kiss like this for months. Before long she began to move her hooves around his body, feeling every inch of it. While it didn't feel as firm as it was before, as toned, she didn't seem to mind. She understood why it was the way it was, she still loved it none the less. Secretly though, she did hope that he would reclaim that body he had. It only made her wonder...Her tongue shot into his mouth, forcing his tongue to retreat for the time being, before they had to pull away to catch their breath.

Not a word needed to be said between them, their eyes spoke of their desires as it was. Their bodies spoke even more as Luna's sweet and luscious scent filled the room. 'Just after one kiss?' Emerald thought, 'Looks like her teasing did a number on her as well.' This was a sign to him to continue, however instead of kissing her on the lips this time, he leaned down, placing a kiss on her neck. This sent her swimming in a sea of delight, which was evident by a moan that came from her throat. She began to melt in his grasp by this point, her eyes closing as he kissed every inch of her neck, an even longer moan escaping from her mouth this time. Every single little kiss only proved to increase her lust, her arousal. This was becoming more and more evident by the intensity of the scent now in the room. This scent only proved to increase the unicorn's own arousal, his rod now pressing against her stomach.

"Looks like someone can't hold on much longer." Luna remarked, giving him a very soft giggle. He didn't even blush, he just continued placing very tender kisses on her neck. At one point she swore she even felt him gently suckling on her neck. It sent her arousal to a whole other level, driving the lunar princess well past her breaking point. By this time, more than water was dripping from her body, she was wet with arousal, more than she had ever been before in her life and the silky fluid could even be seen dripping down her back legs. What made it different from the water that was still dripping from her body was the fact that it was a more viscous fluid. Not only that, the aroma is what separated it from others. He took advantage of her arousal, combined with the fact that she was lost in the passion to trail his hoof down very slowly, thankfully it was his right hoof, which was still relatively clean from having been in a cast. Once it reached its destination she let out an even louder moan than before. This was the first time anypony had ever touched her there, and it felt simply divine to her. All he simply did was just lightly touch her clit with the tip of his hoof, it drove her mad. It eventually came to the point where she began to squirm in his grip, just begging for more. Before he could continue pleasing her though, she teleported, reappearing with a 'pop' right next to him. This seemed a tiny bit pointless, but to her it actually did matter as she took control of the situation, now pinning him to the wall.

He still retained the smirk he had been wearing for a while now, taking note of the intense lust in her eyes. "Looks like you're the O-one...Mmmph!" before he could finish speaking however, she had brought her lips up to his. This seemed to relax the both of them as they melted into the kiss again, the difference this time was, Luna could be seen moving her hooves down his body. Her touch was more sensual than it had been during the teasing, showing her willingness to press forward. His body slowly slid down to the floor before the kiss broke.

"Want to take this elsewhere?" she asked as he moved to his hooves again.

"Gladly, the floor is too uncomfortable." he remarked, earning a giggle from the princess.

The pair seemed to flow into the room, as they did, Luna took notice of the setting. To add the final touch she moved over to the main door, ensuring that it was locked before they continued. She didn't want her sister or anyone else entering for that matter. By the time she had, Emerald had already taken a place on the bed, where she could make out small containers with fruit in them. This was her chance, right here, right now. Where she could turn the tide of this scene and make it her own. Yet she didn't, she instead climbed onto the bed very slowly to savor the moment.

Savoring it even further, Emerald pulled her into a passionate kiss, one that once again made her melt in his hooves. The fruit seemed irrelevant at this point as their make-out session resumed. This time was different however, fueled not only by lust, but by love. Her legs wrapped around his shoulders as he stood above her, submitting to him for the time being. As the initial kiss broke, she looked up at him with her cyan eyes. Never in her immortal life had she met somepony like him, let alone loved them. As his brown eyes gazed back, she knew that he felt the same way. A smile spreading across her face.

"I'm ready." she cooed. "No more games...just...take me as yours."

He didn't reply with words in the least, instead he replied by pulling her into one last kiss as she felt it. Slowly, his length began to push into her, and with one sharp thrust as well as a jolt of tremendous pain, she wasn't a virgin anymore. Luna wanted to cry from the pain, but it seemed relatively short-lived as Emerald's horn lit up. She could feel the pain slowly fading from her body, being replaced by nature's sweet bliss. It felt like she was resting in a field of flowers, as the sweet scent of the room finally cascaded over her. She moved her hoof up to his cheek as he gazed down at her, the candle light providing just enough to see his smile. This occurred just before she felt another thrust, this one a bit less painful than the previous one. With each movement of his hips, the pain slowly vanished, being replaced by the ecstasy she began to feel shooting up her spine from her loins.

"I love you, Emerald..." she whispered, her legs wrapping around his shoulders again, kissing him passionately. He only grunted from the pleasure as he returned the kiss.

"I love you too, Luna." he whispered back, already fighting back against the ecstasy. Given Luna's teasing, it was a surprise he hadn't already released, yet, for some reason he was able to hold back, considering his horn was glowing. It seemed he was more focused on pleasing the princess rather than himself. Each thrust seemed to prove that as it brought forth another wave of sheer delight, which resulted in her moans growing louder.

"Yes!" she shouted, more pleasure washing over her with each second. It wasn't just the thrusting that seemed to build the pleasure though, it was him, it was the unicorn before her that seemed to make it grow. The combination of each thrust and his loving eyes seemed to magnify the pleasure ten-fold. It seemed to build up like this for several minutes, the pleasure only growing more and more intense every second, by now she was straining, fighting back a rather pleasing pressure that seemed almost delightful. That is when it happened, with one final thrust, neither could hold back any longer. Feeling the weeks of built up tension being released in a matter of a couple short minutes.

Luna was the first to react, screaming her lover's name as she felt the first wave of glorious orgasmic bliss wash over every inch of her body. She hadn't even taken note of the fact that she had shouted in her Canterlot voice, she didn't care however as she felt a warmth begin to fill her up. While Emerald had released his rather thick seed into the mare, in several sweet muscle spasms he had never felt one this intense before. It felt like he was about to pass out as he shot thick streams of his seed all over her, just after pulling out. She didn't seem to mind this at all, having her coat covered with the thick white liquid. The princess' own climax was just as messy too, as her juices seemed to ooze out of her, mixed in with his semen. After that initial climax, the unicorn flopped back on the bed to catch his breath.

"That...was...amazing..." she cooed, snuggling up to his chest in an instant. Kissing him softly on the chin. Even with one orgasm she could feel his erection quickly regaining vigor, this caught her off guard, especially after having read that males often need a short rest period before they can continue on again. Yet, it seemed Emerald had strength to spare. Taking advantage of this, Luna's horn lit up once again.

"What the-" by the time he saw it coming, it had been too late to stop it, she had already pinned him to the bed using a combination of her hooves and magic. This only turned him on even more, causing his erection to reach its full length in less than a second. Her smirk grew at this point before she lifted herself up, using some careful positioning before lowering herself once again. This time she let his length slide right up into her and it felt even more divine than before. It was better for Emerald as his body was still reeling, their liquids causing his flesh to become extremely sensitive to contact. This made him shout in pure delight as she proceeded to ride him. She performed a similar action to what he had done not more than ten minutes ago, slowly moving her body up and down his length.

"L-Luna!" he shouted, as the hypersensitivity kicked in full. This had become one of the most intense experiences he had ever experienced fairly quickly. His moans could even be heard through the walls of the room. Before long, even Luna could feel the effects of the hypersensitivity as she rocked his body, each second her pace quickening. Her juices only seemed to add to the sensitivity for both of them, sending even more uncontrollable waves of pleasure over their bodies. With each movement of Luna's rump it brought his end ever closer. The unicorn's vision began to blur by this point, the pleasure growing to levels he hadn't ever known.

"That's it!" she shouted, feeling her own groin muscles tense up, before her juices erupted onto his stomach. Just as her inner walls constricted around his length, his limit was reached, magic erupted from Emerald's horn at this point as another load of his seed erupted into the princess, squirting out along with her juices. As the unicorn's climax raged through his body, the pleasure quickly became too much, causing him to pass out from the overdose. Luna on the other hand let her body slump onto his for a moment, crossing her horn with his as she climbed off of him. To say the least, she was a bit on the tired side after this, but she had never felt better.

"I love you, Emerald." she cooed, placing a very soft kiss on his lips, before returning to the washroom, cleaning herself up once again to get ready for her night.

**The End...Or is it?  
**


End file.
